Division 

E  697  . M14  v72 

McElroy,  Robert  McNutt,  1871 
-1959 . 

Grover  Cleveland,  the  man 
and  the  statesman 


r 


t 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


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GROVER  CLEVELAND 

THE  MAN  AND  THE  STATESMAN 


VOLUME  TWO 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 

JN  HIS  HOME  AT  PRINCETON 


Underwood  &  Underwood 


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bOO'Ml'jlill  J-  1&  huowwh#  I  'iz 


I 


X/ 

GROVER  CLEVELAND 

THE  MAN  AND  THE  STATESMAN 

An  Authorized  Biography 


Robert  Mcelroy,  ph.d.,  ll.d.,  f.r.h.s. 

EDWARDS  PROFESSOR  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY 
PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 


VOLUME 

II 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
MCMXXIII 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 

THE  MAN  AND  THE  STATESMAN 


Copyright,  1923 
By  Harper  &  Brothers 
Printed  in  the  U.  S.  A. 


First  Edition 


K-X 


CONTENTS 


VOLUME  II 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  First  Battle  with  Bryan — the  Repeal  of  the 

Sherman  Law .  i 

II.  Blocking  “Manifest  Destiny”  in  Hawaii  ...  45 

III.  Breaking  the  Endless  Chain — the  Four  Bond 

Issues  ....'. . 74 

IV.  The  Wilson-Gorman  Tariff . 107 

V.  The  Pullman  Strike  of  1894 . 138 

VI.  The  Venezuelan  Affair . 173 

VII.  The  Warwick  of  1896 . 203 

VIII.  The  Four  Lean  Months . 238 

IX.  Retires  to  Princeton . 256 

X.  Watching  the  Game  from  the  Side  Lines  .  .  .  271 

XI.  The  Turn  of  the  Tide . 301 

XII.  The  Election  of  1904 . 321 

XIII.  Reorganizing  the  Equitable . 350 

XIV.  Sunset  Days . 365 

Index . 417 


/ 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 

THE  MAN  AND  THE  STATESMAN 


- 


_ - _ _ _ „ 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN — THE  REPEAL  OF  THE 

SHERMAN  LAW 

“Patriotism  is  no  substitute  for  a  sound  currency.” 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

THE  election  of  November,  1892,  placed  Grover 
Cleveland  in  a  position  unique  in  American  his¬ 
tory.  He  was  the  only  President  ever  re-elected  after 
a  defeat.  Furthermore,  he  was  the  first  President-elect 
since  1840  who  was  manifestly  a  greater  political  figure 
than  any  man  whom  he  could  conceivably  select  for  his 
Cabinet 

Harrison  and  Tyler  had  been  outclassed  by  many 
leaders  in  their  own  party.  James  K.  Polk  had  his  Wil¬ 
liam  L.  Marcy,  his  Robert  J.  Walker,  his  George  Ban¬ 
croft;  Zachary  Taylor,  his  John  M.  Clayton,  Reverdy 
Johnson,  and  Thomas  Ewing;  Franklin  Pierce,  to  his 
own  generation,  looked  small  beside  Marcy,  Guthrie,  and 
Caleb  Cushing;  and  James  Buchanan  was  clearly 
eclipsed  by  Lewis  Cass.  Lincoln  started  his  presidential 
career  with  both  Seward  and  Chase  to  overshadow  him. 
Andrew  Johnson  was  outclassed  in  the  public  mind  by 
most  of  the  Cabinet  which  he  inherited  from  Lincoln. 
Grant,  though  eminent  as  a  soldier,  was  politically  of 
small  stature  beside  Elihu  Washburn  or  Hamilton  Fish. 
Hayes  was  dwarfed  by  Evarts,  Sherman,  and  Carl 


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GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Schurz.  Blaine,  as  Secretary  of  State,  completely  over¬ 
topped  both  Garfield  and  Arthur,  while  Cleveland  him¬ 
self  in  1884  was  far  less  eminent  than  either  Tilden  or 
Thomas  F.  Bayard.  But  with  Grover  Cleveland’s  resto¬ 
ration,  the  older  and  better  tradition  was  resumed,  for, 
with  the  single  exception  of  Monroe’s  first  term,  every 
administration  down  to  that  of  William  Henry  Harri¬ 
son  had  begun  with  a  President  more  eminent  than  any 
of  his  advisers. 

In  addition  to  this  personal  prestige,  Mr.  Cleveland 
returned  to  power  with  the  added  advantage  of  being 
the  first  President  since  Pierce  whose  party  was  in  a  posi¬ 
tion  to  control  both  Senate  and  Congress.  During  his 
first  term  Congress  had  been  Democratic;  but  the  Re¬ 
publicans  had  controlled  the  Senate,  and  from  that  strong¬ 
hold  had  wrought  havoc  upon  many  of  his  cherished 
plans.  Now,  however,  for  a  brief  but  satisfying  period, 
he  found  himself  riding  the  crest  of  the  wave,  his  tri¬ 
umphant  party  eagerly  hailing  him  chief,  and  even  the 
Republicans  admitting  that  he  had  “qualities.” 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  he  was  entitled  to 
expect  the  support  of  two  hundred  and  nineteen  out  of  a 
membership  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-five,  with  one 
seat  vacant.  Out  of  a  Senate  of  eighty-eight  the  Demo¬ 
crats  numbered  forty-four,  while  the  three  seats  yet  to 
be  filled  gave  them  hope  of  a  majority,  especially  as  the 
five  Populist  Senators  might  reasonably  be  expected  to 
train  with  them.  To  all  appearances,  therefore,  Mr. 
Cleveland  could  count  upon  the  support  of  both  Houses, 
and  but  for  the  break  in  his  own  party  when  the  testing 
time  came,  he  might  have  commanded  the  storm  for 
many  a  day. 

When  ready  to  choose  his  Cabinet,  Mr.  Cleveland 
felt  it  wise  to  select  new  men  who  would  bring  new  points 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  3 

of  view  and  new  suggestions  to  bear  upon  the  problems 
confronting  the  country.  And  so,  while  freely  seeking 
the  personal  advice  of  his  old  Cabinet  associates,  he  per¬ 
sistently  looked  elsewhere  for  official  advisers. 

On  January  25,  1893,  he  wrote  to  L.  Clarke  Davis: 

“Bayard  came  to  me  night  before  last  and  left  this 
morning.  We  had  a  very  frank  and  unrestrained  talk, 
as  we  have  always  had,  and  so  far  as  he  can  do  so,  he  has, 
like  the  good  patriotic  friend  he  is,  left  matters  almost 
entirely  in  my  control. 

“I  am  dreadfully  perplexed  and  bothered.  I  cannot 
get  the  men  I  want  to  help  me,  but  strange  to  say,  my 
greatest  trials  come  through  those  professing  to  be  near 
and  attached  friends,  who  expect  things. 

“I  hope  the  skies  will  lighten  by  and  by,  but  I  have 
never  seen  a  day  since  I  consented  to  drift  with  events 
that  I  have  not  cursed  myself  for  yielding;  and  in  these 
particular  days  I  think  I  curse  a  little  more  heartily  than 
ever.  This  is  strange  talk  and  perhaps  seems  ungracious 
and  unappreciative.  It  is  nothing  of  the  kind.  It  pre¬ 
sents  only  the  personal  side  of  the  matter;  and  sometimes 
when  I  feel  that  perhaps  I  may  after  all  be  the  instru¬ 
ment  of  doing  good  to  the  American  people  whom  I  know 
I  love,  I  am  quite  happy.” 

That  night  he  offered  Bayard’s  old  post,  the  portfolio 
of  State,  to  Judge  Walter  Q.  Gresham,  of  Indiana,  a  man 
who,  except  for  the  year  1864,  when  he  had  been  unable 
to  go  to  the  polls,  had  voted  the  Republican  ticket  at 
every  presidential  election  since  the  party  was  organized. 
Gresham  had  served  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  one 
month  during  Arthur’s  administration,  and  at  the  opening 
of  the  campaign  of  1892,  had  been  in  the  minds  of  many 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


4 

anti-Harrison  leaders,  a  possible  Republican  nominee 
for  the  Presidency.  Indeed,  according  to  the  memoir  pub¬ 
lished  by  his  widow,  he  had  been  actually  asked  to  lead 
the  Republicans  in  a  fight  for  the  nomination,  but  had 
answered:  “I  am  out  of  politics,  and  have  no  political 
aspirations.”  The  People’s  party,  too,  had  offered  him 
their  nomination,  and  this  also  he  had  declined,  declaring 
to  his  son  that  he  thought  the  thing  for  him  to  do  was  to 
take  the  stump  for  Grover  Cleveland,  largely  because  of 
the  latter’s  tariff  views.  Gresham’s  support  under  such 
circumstances  had  been  of  great  value  to  the  Democratic 
ticket,  but  the  offer  of  the  leading  place  in  the  Cabinet 
came  as  a  surprise,  and  he  at  first  declined.  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land  met  his  objections  with  the  assurance  that  “prior 
political  affiliations  matter  not  a  bit.”  Whitney,  Carlisle, 
Henry  Watterson,  and  other  prominent  Democrats  added 
their  arguments,  and  Mr.  Gresham  finally  accepted  the 
appointment.  In  acknowledging  the  acceptance,  Mr. 
Cleveland  wrote: 

Confidential . 

Lakewood,  N.  J. 

Hon.  Walter  Q.  Gresham.  Feby '  9>  189 3‘ 

My  dear  Sir: 

Your  letter  of  the  7th  instant  came  to  hand  two  or 
three  hours  ago,  and  causes  me  the  greatest  satisfaction. 
I  know  perfectly  well  that  only  considerations  of  patriot¬ 
ism  and  duty  have  constrained  you  to  accede  to  my  wishes, 
and  I  assure  you  this  vastly  increases  my  appreciation 
of  what  you  have  done.  .  .  . 

I  would  certainly  be  exceedingly  glad  to  have  a  chat 
with  you  between  now  and  the  4th  of  March,  and  hope 
that  your  work  will  so  close  up  as  to  enable  you  to  come 
to  me. 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  5 

I  have  settled,  I  think,  on  five  members  of  the  Cabi¬ 
net.  I  mean  to  have  Carlisle  for  the  Treasury — Lamont 
for  War — Bissell  (of  Buffalo,  one  of  my  oldest  friends 
and  former  partner)  for  Postmaster  General,  and  Hoke 
Smith,  of  Georgia  (a  very  able  representative  of  the  new 
and  progressive  South),  for  Interior.  This  leaves  Navy, 
Attorney  General  and  Agriculture  still  to  be  selected.  I 
want  George  Gray,  Senator  from  Delaware,  to  accept 
the  Attorney  General’s  place,  but  he  has  thus  far, 
strangely  enough,  declined.  If  there  was  a  first-rate  man 
in  Alabama,  Mississippi,  or  that  neighborhood,  I  would 
like  to  consider  him.  If  not,  I  am  prepared  to  take  a 
man  from  almost  any  quarter. 

I  offered  Agriculture  to  Bliss  of  Iowa;  but  he  and 
his  friends  are  reckoning  on  his  making  a  successful 
canvass  for  United  States  Senator  next  fall,  and  he  de¬ 
clined  my  invitation.  The  Navy  ought  not  to  be  a  very 
hard  place  to  fill,  but  I  have  not  just  the  man  in  view  yet. 
It  is  barely  possible  that  I  may  induce  Senator  Gray  to 
take  the  Attorney  Generalship  after  all,  but  I  hardly 
expect  it. 

I  would  be  very  glad  to  receive  any  suggestions  you 
may  make  concerning  incumbents  for  these  vacant  places. 
Now  that  I  have  secured  the  head  of  my  Cabinet,  I  feel 
that  it  should  be  completed  as  soon  as  possible. 

If  your  leisure  and  convenience  permit,  I  hope  you 
will  write  to  me.  Please  address  me  by  letter  or  dispatch 
at  this  place. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Disappointed  in  his  hope  of  securing  Senator  Gray 
as  Attorney  General,  Mr.  Cleveland  appointed  Richard 
Olney,  whom  he  had  met  but  once,  but  whose  qualifica- 


6 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


tions  he  had  carefully  investigated.  Mr.  Olney’s  success 
as  counsel  for  the  Eastern  Railroad  in  1875,  during  a 
period  of  peculiar  difficulty,  had  established  his  reputa¬ 
tion  as  a  lawyer,  and  he  had  ably  sustained  the  reputa¬ 
tion  thus  secured. 

As  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Hilary  A.  Herbert,  of  Ala¬ 
bama,  was  finally  selected,  while  Julius  Sterling  Morton, 
of  Nebraska,  accepted  the  post  of  Secretary  of  Agricul¬ 
ture.  Thus  the  Cabinet  was  complete,  and  of  the  men 
chosen  only  Lamont  had  been  associated  with  his  first 
administration. 

In  describing  his  Cabinet  to  Richard  Watson  Gilder, 
the  President-elect  said  of  John  G.  Carlisle:  “We  are 
just  right  for  each  other.  He  knows  all  I  ought  to  know, 
and  I  can  bear  all  we  have  to  bear.”  And  already  his 
daily  mail  showed  many  premonitory  symptoms  of  what 
he  would  have  to  bear. 

Office  seekers  of  every  conceivable  type  once  more 
employed  every  means  to  impress  upon  him  the  duty  of 
a  President  with  power  to  bestow.  Some  of  these  appeals 
were  pathetic,  some  patriotic;  but  the  vast  majority  were 
grotesque,  almost  illiterate  pleas  for  pay  for  alleged  party 
service. 

One  bore  the  distressingly  familiar  ring,  which  had 
called  forth  so  many  pension  vetoes  during  his  first  term: 
“I  congratulate  you  with  greetings  of  love.  Forget  not 
the  noble  soldier.  Procrastinate  not.  Strike  at  once. 
Give  pensions  to  all  that  fought.” 

Another  of  equally  well-known  purport  ran:  “Please 
send  me  immediately  $1,000,  to  which  you  are  indebted 
to  me,  to  say  nothin  about  the  pain  and  sufferin  endured, 
caused  by  a  pure  accident  when  celebratin  your  election.” 

A  third  mingled  his  good  wishes  with  a  request  for 
$45,  giving  as  his  reason:  “I  had  ben  votin  the  Demo- 


I 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  7 

crat  ticket  ever  sense  the  War,  and  I  have  never  received 
anything  for  my  trouble,  goin  to  the  election  whitch 
some  of  the  Republicans  has  been  payed  for  votin  there 
own  ticket.” 

“A  young  lady  aged  17  years  old,”  opened  her  epistle 
with  the  words:  “Thou  ruler  of  the  United,  as  such  you 
are  and  have  a  rite  to  be,  bein  Democratic.”  And  a 
New  Englander,  less  effusive  but  doubtless  equally  sin¬ 
cere,  modestly  apologized  for  the  form  of  his  congratula¬ 
tions  in  the  words:  “I  am  not  very  mutch  on  the  writin 
and  spelin  but  then  you  will  excuse  I  bein  Born  in 
Maine.” 

Thus  again  Mr.  Cleveland  knew  what  the  psycholo¬ 
gists  call  “the  reality  feeling.”  The  burden  which  he 
had  shifted  to  another  Atlas  in  1889  was  his  again,  and 
while  grateful  for  the  confidence  of  the  people,  he  was 
far  from  elated.  “Every  feeling  of  jubilation,”  he  wrote, 
“and  even  my  sense  of  gratitude  is  so  tempered  as  to  be 
almost  entirely  obscured  by  the  realization,  nearly  pain¬ 
ful,  of  the  responsibility  I  have  assumed  in  the  sight  of 
the  American  people.” 

Although  executive  authority  was  not  yet  his,  his  sense 
of  responsibility  drove  him  ruthlessly.  At  his  office  in 
the  Mills  Building,  New  York,  he  received  the  brunt 
of  the  office  seekers’  attacks.  At  his  retreat  in  Lakewood, 
he  welcomed  his  friends  and  those  political  leaders  whose 
advice  and  assistance  he  requested.  But  whether  in  New 
York  or  in  Lakewood,  he  avoided  no  obligation,  and 
worked  at  the  people’s  problems  as  though  he  were 
already  once  more  the  people’s  sworn  servant. 

“I  have  just  been  to  see  Mr.  Cleveland  at  Lakewood,” 
wrote  Thomas  F.  Bayard  to  Judge  Lambert  Tree,  “and 
his  self-abnegation  and  simple  devotion  to  the  great  work 
which  confronts  him  touch  and  impress  me  greatly.  No 


8 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


small  purpose  has  any  right  to  be  brought  into  view 
where  he  is  concerned,  and  self-seeking  should  stand  re¬ 
buked  in  his  presence.” 

The  month  before  inauguration  Mr.  Cleveland  de¬ 
voted  largely  to  work  upon  his  address,  abandoning  his 
office  hour  at  the  Mills  Building.  Toward  the  end  of 
that  period  Dr.  Wilton  Merle  Smith,  pastor  of  a  New 
York  church  which  Mr.  Cleveland  frequently  attended, 
paid  a  visit  to  Lakewood. 

“Come  into  my  den,”  said  Mr.  Cleveland,  “I  want 
to  read  you  my  inaugural  speech.”  When  he  had  fin¬ 
ished  the  final  paragraph:  “Above  all  I  know  there  is 
a  Supreme  Being  who  rules  the  affairs  of  men,  and  whose 
goodness  and  mercy  have  always  followed  the  American 
people,  and  I  know  He  will  not  turn  from  us  now  if 
we  humbly  and  reverently  seek  His  powerful  aid,”  his 
visitor  remarked,  “I  like  it  immensely  and  its  conclusion 
best  of  all.”  “I  will  never  forget,”  said  Dr.  Smith  later, 
“the  way  this  strong  man  then  paced  up  and  down  the 
floor,  and  returned  and  returned,  with  these  words,  T 
suppose  at  times  you  will  not  approve  many  things  I 
do,  but  I  want  you  to  know  that  I  am  trying  to  do  what 
is  right.  I  have  a  hungry  party  behind  me,  and  they  say 
I  am  not  grateful.  Sometimes  the  pressure  is  almost 
overwhelming,  and  a  President  cannot  always  get  at  the 
exact  truth,  but  I  want  you  to  know,  and  all  my  friends 
to  know,  that  I  am  trying  to  do  what  is  right — I  am  try¬ 
ing  to  do  what  is  right.’  ” 

Shortly  before  the  date  fixed  for  Mr.  Cleveland’s  de¬ 
parture  for  Washington,  a  number  of  his  intimate  friends 
presented  him  with  a  watch.  In  his  letter  of  thanks  to 
Mr.  Gilder,  he  wrote :  “I  expected  to  see  you  this  evening 
and  did  not  suspect  any  such  conspiracy  as  was  developed' 
when  the  beautiful  gift  sent  to  me  by  yourself  and  your 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  9 

‘pals’  reached  my  hands.  I  don’t  know  what  to  say  to 
‘you  fellows’ — and  no  wonder,  for  I  never  had  so  fine  a 
present  before. 

“I  can  only  say  that  I  am  perfectly  delighted,  and  that 
this  reminder  of  real  friendliness  comes  to  me  at  a  time 
when  my  surroundings  do  not  indicate  that  all  friendship 
is  sincere  and  disinterested.  I  thank  you  from  the  bottom 
of  my  heart.” 

Cleveland  took  his  second  oath  as  President  with  the 
ground  white  with  snow.  Before  him  spread  an  audi¬ 
ence  in  which  appeared  at  points  the  glint  of  Indian 
costumes,  denoting  not  real  red  men  but  Tammany  tigers. 
Led  by  Richard  Croker  and  other  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
ancient  opponents,  Tammany,  for  the  moment,  celebrated 
Cleveland’s  return. 

As  he  faced  the  sea  of  upturned  faces  awaiting  his 
inaugural  address,  he  boldly  resumed  the  topic  which 
four  years  earlier  had  caused  his  defeat.  “The  verdict 
of  our  voters  which  condemns  the  injustice  of  maintain¬ 
ing  protection  for  protection’s  sake,”  he  declared,  “en¬ 
joins  upon  the  people’s  servants  the  duty  of  exposing 
and  destroying  the  brood  of  kindred  evils  which  are  the 
unwholesome  progeny  of  paternalism.”  The  fact  that  in 
his  message  of  1887  he  had  doomed  himself  and  his  party 
to  defeat  by  a  frank  avowal  of  the  same  view,  induced 
no  caution.  To  his  mind,  personal  or  party  defeats  were 
merely  incidents  in  the  operation  of  great  forces.  It  was 
his  intention  to  bring  about  a  sweeping  reform  of  the 
tariff,  and  his  method  was  to  let  the  country  know  it 
at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

To  those  Democrats  who  despite  his  previous  utter¬ 
ances  still  hoped  that  Grover  Cleveland  would  promise 
to  “do  something  for  silver,”  he  presented  an  uncompro¬ 
mising  front.  And  he  as  frankly  disappointed  those  who 


IO 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


had  ventured  to  suggest  that  he  would  “soft-pedal”  when 
touching  questions  of  wastefulness,  civil  service,  and  pen¬ 
sion  reform. 

His  speech  was  a  reiteration  of  his  past  speeches. 
Four  years’  relief  from  executive  cares  had  altered  none 
of  his  fundamental  conceptions.  Simply,  frankly,  and 
uncompromisingly,  he  declared  not  new  views  but  old: 
“Nothing  is  more  vital  to  our  supremacy  as  a  nation  .  .  . 
than  a  sound  and  stable  currency”;  “the  injustice  of  main¬ 
taining  protection  for  protection’s  sake”;  “a  challenge 
of  wild  and  reckless  pension  expenditures”;  “the  waste 
of  public  money  is  a  crime”;  “to  secure  the  fitness  and 
competency  of  appointees  to  office  and  remove  from  po¬ 
litical  action  the  demoralizing  madness  of  spoils”;  “legit¬ 
imate  strife  in  business  should  not  be  superseded  by  an 
enforced  concession  to  the  demands  of  combinations  that 
have  the  power  to  destroy.” 

The  address  made  a  profound  impression  in  Europe. 
The  President  of  the  Paris  Council  caused  extracts  from 
it  to  be  printed  for  use  in  the  public  schools  of  France, 
and  the  Papal  Nuncio  declared  that  it  was:  “One  of  the 
grandest  spectacles  of  modern  times  to  see  the  head  of 
a  great  nation  inculcate  such  lessons  of  morality  and  prac¬ 
tical  religion.” 

No  sooner  was  the  ceremony  of  inauguration  over 
than  Mr.  Cleveland  encountered,  with  regard  to  almost 
every  article  of  his  creed,  bitter  and  determined  oppo¬ 
sition,  not  only  from  the  Republicans,  but  from  his 
own  party  as  well.  In  the  lower  House,  which  had  been 
elected  under  the  same  popular  inspiration  which  had 
restored  him,  the  adverse  current  remained  within 
bounds,  thanks  to  the  high-minded  leadership  of  Mr. 
Wilson,  of  West  Virginia,  and  many  of  his  efforts  to 
carry  out  the  promises  made  to  the  people  found  a  fair 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  II 

degree  of  party  support.  But  the  Democratic  contingent 
of  the  Senate  was  controlled  by  men  who  hated  Cleveland 
and  spared  no  pains  to  block  his  measures.  To  such 
opposition  the  Republicans  gave  assistance,  for  to  them 
Grover  Cleveland  was  only  the  first  successful  leader  of 
Democracy  since  the  small  years  of  the  century,  and 
their  business  was  to  add  party  opposition  to  personal 
opposition,  that  the  days  of  his  power  might  prove  as 
few  as  possible. 

Thus  the  new  President  soon  saw  that  his  expected 
majority  in  the  Senate  was  not  to  be  realized.  He  was, 
in  short,  in  the  unenviable  position  of  a  leader  deter¬ 
mined  to  lead,  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  followers  who 
refused  to  follow,  and  this  at  a  time  when  the  situation 
was  most  perplexing  and  difficult. 

His  party  was  pledged  to  tariff  reform,  but  there 
seemed  little  chance  of  securing  it  in  the  face  of  such  a 
combination.  Civil  service,  too,  was  part  of  its  promise 
to  the  people,  but  the  Democratic  leaders,  with  reform 
ardor  cooled  by  victory,  found  satisfying  absolution  in 
the  fact  that  the  Republicans  had  packed  the  federal 
offices  with  their  henchmen  as  rapidly  as  vacancies  had 
occurred,  thus  restoring  the  inequality  which  had  pre¬ 
vailed  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
coming. 

To  upset  this  iniquitous  situation,  so  at  variance  with 
the  will  of  the  people  as  expressed  in  the  recent  elec¬ 
tions,  they  boldly  declared  a  necessary  preliminary  to 
real  reform.  They  pointed  out  the  fact  that  of  the 
200,000  employees  in  the  civil  service  of  the  United  States 
only  43,000  were  classified  according  to  the  rules  of  civil 
service  reform,  and  that  of  this  43,000  a  large  percentage 
were  but  examples  of  how  a  defeated  party  can,  in  the 
last  few  hours  of  its  power,  use  civil  service  reform  laws 


12 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


1 


to  furnish  permanent  berths  for  its  members.  Particu¬ 
larly  did  they  denounce  Amended  Postal  Rule  No.  i, 
signed  by  President  Harrison  two  months  before  his  re¬ 
tirement,  which  brought  some  7,500  federal  employees 
of  the  free  delivery  post-offices  within  the  protection  of 
the  civil  service  laws. 

“This  is  perhaps  the  most  important  extension  that 
has  ever  taken  place  under  the  civil  service  law,”  runs 
the  Commissioners’  annual  report,  signed  by  Theodore 
Roosevelt  and  Charles  Lyman.  “  ...  It  is  needless  to 
point  out  the  very  great  benefit  conferred  upon  the  public 
at  large  and  upon  the  cause  of  decent  politics  by  this 
extension  of  the  classified  service.” 

Doubtless  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  Mr.  Lyman  were  sin¬ 
cere  in  this  opinion,  but  the  minority  report  signed  by 
the  third  Commissioner,  George  D.  Johnston,  gave  a 
different  interpretation,  and  one  more  favorable  to  the 
case  of  Democratic  politicians  desirous  of  removals. 
Writing  to  President  Cleveland,  on  November  21,  1893, 
Johnston  declared  the  action  the  very  opposite  of  reform: 
“The  extension  of  the  classified  service  does  not  of  ne¬ 
cessity  mean  civil  service  reform.  .  .  .  When  such  an 
extension  is  ordered  by  an  administration  and  goes  into 
effect  shortly  before  the  government  is  turned  over  to  an¬ 
other  administration  of  different  political  faith  and  party 
affiliation,  known  to  be  friendly  to  the  cause  of  civil 
service  reform,  it  is  difficult  to  reconcile  it  to  fair-minded 
men  of  all  parties  as  a  non-partisan  measure.” 

While  inclined  to  accept  the  minority  interpretation, 
Mr.  Cleveland  showed  his  confidence  in  Theodore  Roose¬ 
velt  by  the  announcement  that  he  would  be  retained  as 
Civil  Service  Commissioner,  and  this  decision  was  hailed 
with  enthusiasm  by  the  reformers  of  both  parties.  Carl 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  1 3 

Schurz  declared  it  “A  great  event,  and  in  itself  a  large 
program  for  the  next  four  years.” 

Mr.  Roosevelt  fully  agreed  with  the  President’s  view 
that  “public  office  is  a  public  trust,”  but,  being  far  more 
ardent  in  his  desire  to  hold  public  office,  was  far  more 
active  in  seeking  it.  “He  who  has  not  wealth  owes  his 
first  duty  to  his  family,”  he  once  declared,  “but  he  who 
has  means  owes  his  to  the  State.” 

Mr.  Cleveland,  on  the  other  hand,  believed  that  a 
citizen  should  not  court  public  place.  The  Inter-Ocean , 
of  May  3,  1903,  recalls  a  conversation  between  him  and 
Mr.  Roosevelt  shortly  after  the  latter’s  reappointment  as 
Civil  Service  Commissioner.  To  the  question,  “Do  you 
intend  to  remain  active  in  politics?”  Mr.  Roosevelt  re¬ 
turned  an  instant  affirmative.  “I  am  sorry  to  hear  it,” 
Mr.  Cleveland  replied.  “It  is  enough  to  be  a  good 
citizen.” 

But  though  anxious  to  retain  Roosevelt’s  services, 
Mr.  Cleveland  had  no  intention  of  allowing  any  one  ele¬ 
ment,  even  the  civil  service  reformers,  to  run  the  govern¬ 
ment.  He  believed  that  the  Democrats,  as  the  victorious 
party  commissioned  by  the  people,  were  entitled  to  con¬ 
trol,  and  he  did  not  scruple  to  appoint  competent  Demo¬ 
crats,  chiefly  because  they  were  Democrats.  Nor  did  he 
hesitate  to  appoint  competent  Republicans,  whatever  the 
opposition,  when  the  situation  demanded  it.  Incompe¬ 
tent  candidates,  whether  Democrats  or  Republicans,  he 
stoutly  refused  to  appoint,  however  great  the  political 
pressure  back  of  their  applications.  He  was,  moreover, 
always  ready  to  correct  injustice  when  convinced  that  in¬ 
justice  had  been  done,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  cor¬ 
respondence  between  Mark  Twain  and  the  President’s 
daughter  Ruth,  aged  one. 


14 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


“My  dear  Ruth, 

“I  belong  to  the  mugwumps,  and  one  of  the  most 
sacred  rules  of  our  order  prevents  us  from  asking  favors 
of  officials  or  recommending  men  to  office,  but  there  is 
no  harm  in  writing  a  friendly  letter  to  you  and  telling 
you  that  an  infernal  outrage  is  about  to  be  committed 
by  your  father  in  turning  out  of  office  the  best  consul 
I  know  [Captain  Mason,  Consul  General  at  Frankfort] 
(and  I  know  a  great  many)  just  because  he  is  a  Republi¬ 
can  and  a  Democrat  wants  his  place.” 

Mr.  Clemens  then  related  what  he  knew  of  Captain 
Mason  and  his  official  record,  and  continued: 

“I  can’t  send  any  message  to  the  President,  but  the 
next  time  you  have  a  talk  with  him  concerning  such  mat¬ 
ters,  I  wish  you  would  tell  him  about  Captain  Mason 
and  what  I  think  of  a  government  that  so  treats  its  effi¬ 
cient  officials.” 

Three  or  four  weeks  later  Mr.  Clemens  received  a 
tiny  envelope  postmarked  Washington,  in  which  was  a 
note,  written  in  President  Cleveland’s  own  hand.  It 
read : 

“Miss  Ruth  Cleveland  begs  to  acknowledge  the  re¬ 
ceipt  of  Mr.  Twain’s  letter,  and  to  say  that  she  took  the 
liberty  of  reading  it  to  the  President,  who  desires  her  to 
thank  Mr.  Twain  for  his  information  and  to  say  to  him 
that  Captain  Mason  will  not  be  disturbed  in  the  Frank¬ 
fort  Consulate.  The  President  also  desires  Miss  Cleve¬ 
land  to  say  that  if  Mr.  Twain  knows  of  any  other  cases 
of  this  kind  he  would  be  greatly  obliged  if  he  will  write 
him  concerning  them  at  his  earliest  convenience.” 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  1 5 

But  despite  his  readiness  to  accept  advice  from  dis¬ 
interested  sources,  Mr.  Cleveland  took  every  step  possi¬ 
ble  to  strip  from  Congressmen  and  Senators  the  harness 
by  which  they  were  accustomed  to  draw  the  chariot  of 
the  spoils  system.  To  this  end,  and  to  the  indignation 
of  Senators  with  expectant  officials  in  tow,  he  issued  the 
following  executive  order : 

Executive  Mansion, 

May  8,  1 89 3. 

It  has  become  apparent  after  two  months’  experience 
that  the  rules  heretofore  promulgated  regulating  inter¬ 
views  with  the  President  have  wholly  failed  in  opera¬ 
tion.  The  time  which  under  those  rules  was  set  apart 
for  the  reception  of  senators  and  representatives  has  been 
spent  almost  entirely  in  listening  to  applications  for  office, 
which  have  been  bewildering  in  volume,  perplexing  and 
exhausting  in  their  iteration,  and  impossible  of  remem¬ 
brance. 

A  due  regard  for  public  duty,  which  must  be  neg¬ 
lected  if  present  conditions  continue,  and  an  observance 
of  the  limitations  placed  upon  human  endurance  oblige 
me  to  decline  from  and  after  this  date  all  personal  inter¬ 
views  with  those  seeking  appointments  to  office,  except 
as  I,  on  my  own  motion,  may  especially  invite  them.  .  .  . 

I  earnestly  request  senators  and  representatives  to  aid 
me  in  securing  for  them  uninterrupted  interviews  by  de¬ 
clining  to  introduce  their  constituents  and  friends  when 
visiting  the  executive  mansion  during  the  hours  desig¬ 
nated  for  their  reception.  Applicants  for  office  will  only 
prejudice  their  prospects  by  repeated  importunities  and 
by  remaining  at  Washington  to  await  results. 

This  did  not,  of  course,  solve  the  problem,  but  it  did 
something  to  relieve  the  strain,  leaving  him  a  little  freer 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


'1 6 

to  follow  his  conscience  in  matters  which  the  Constitu¬ 
tion  had  made  his  responsibility. 

During  the  remainder  of  his  term  he  worked  slowly 
toward  the  ideal  of  the  reformers,  and  by  the  end  the 
42,950  classified  officers  mentioned  in  the  Commissioners’ 
tenth  annual  report  had  grown  into  84,000,  while  only  100 
civil  servants  at  the  National  Capitol  were  outside  the 
graded  service. 

But  the  outstanding  conflict  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  first 
year  of  restored  power  was  not  civil  service  but  currency 
reform,  the  state  of  the  nation’s  circulating  medium  when 
President  Harrison  surrendered  the  reins  of  government 
making  prompt  action  imperative.  The  situation  which 
culminated  in  the  panic  of  1893  had  begun,  long  before 
Mr.  Cleveland’s  restoration,  with  a  widespread  business 
prostration,  the  responsibility  for  which  he  laid  at  the 
door  of  those  who  had  yielded  to  the  oft-repeated  plea: 
“Do  something  for  silver.”  During  his  first  term  he  had 
made  clear  his  attitude  toward  what  he  called  “the  free 
silver  heresy,”  and  through  his  Secretary  of  the  Treas¬ 
ury,  Daniel  Manning,  had  devoted  himself  whole-heart¬ 
edly  to  conserving  the  gold  balance  in  the  Treasury.  He 
had  suspended  for  a  time  the  bond  purchases,  discon¬ 
tinued  the  issue  of  $1  and  $2  greenbacks,  in  order  to 
increase  the  demand  for  silver  certificates,  and  had  sold 
to  New  York  City  bankers  $5,915,000  worth  of  subsidiary 
silver  coin,  receiving  gold  in  payment.  These  measures 
he  had  taken  by  executive  action  alone,  existing  condi¬ 
tions  not  being  serious  enough  to  justify  an  extra  session 
of  Congress. 

In  his  first  message,  he  had  denounced  the  existing 
silver  purchase  law,  the  Bland-Allison  Act  in  these 
words : 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  1 7 

“Since  February,  1878,  the  government  has  under  the 
compulsory  provisions  of  law  purchased  silver  bullion 
and  coined  the  same  at  the  rate  of  more  than  $2,000,000 
every  month.  By  this  process  up  to  the  present  date, 
21 5,759,43 1  silver  dollars  have  been  coined.  .  .  .  Only 
about  50,000,000  of  the  silver  dollars  so  coined  have  actu¬ 
ally  found  their  way  into  circulation,  leaving  more  than 
165,000,000  in  the  possession  of  the  government,  the  cus¬ 
tody  of  which  has  entailed  a  considerable  expense  for  the 
construction  of  vaults  for  its  deposit.  Against  this  latter 
amount  there  are  outstanding  silver  certificates  amount¬ 
ing  to  about  $93,000,000. 

“Every  month  two  millions  of  gold  .  .  .  are  paid  out 
for  two  millions  of  silver  dollars,  to  be  added  to  the 
idle  mass  already  accumulated. 

“If  continued  long  enough,  this  operation  will  result 
in  the  substitution  of  silver  for  all  the  gold  the  govern¬ 
ment  owns  applicable  to  its  general  purposes. 

“It  will  not  do  to  rely  upon  the  customs  receipts  of 
the  government  to  make  good  this  drain  of  gold,  because 
the  silver  thus  coined  having  been  made  legal  tender  for 
all  debts  and  dues,  public  and  private,  at  times  during 
the  last  six  months,  58%  of  the  receipts  for  duties  has 
been  in  silver  or  silver  certificates,  while  the  average 
within  that  period  has  been  20%. 

“This  proportion  .  .  .  will  probably  increase  as  time 
goes  on,  for  the  reason  that  the  nearer  the  period  ap¬ 
proaches  when  it  will  be  obliged  to  offer  silver  in  pay¬ 
ment  of  its  obligations,  the  greater  inducement  there  will 
be  to  hoard  gold  against  depreciation  in  the  value  of 
silver  or  for  the  purpose  of  speculating. 

“This  hoarding  of  gold  has  already  begun. 

“When  the  time  comes  that  gold  has  been  withdrawn 
from  circulation,  then  will  be  apparent  the  difference 


i8 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


between  the  real  value  of  the  silver  dollar  and  a  dollar 
in  gold,  and  the  two  coins  will  part  company.  Gold,  still 
the  standard  of  value  and  necessary  in  our  dealings  with 
other  countries,  will  be  at  a  premium  over  silver;  banks 
which  have  substituted  gold  for  the  deposits  of  their  cus¬ 
tomers  may  pay  them  with  silver  .  .  .  thus  making  a 
handsome  profit;  rich  speculators  will  sell  their  hoarded 
gold  to  their  neighbors  who  need  it  to  liquidate  their 
foreign  debts,  at  a  ruinous  premium  over  silver,  and  the 
laboring  men  and  women  of  the  land,  most  defenceless 
of  all,  will  find  that  the  dollar  received  for  the  wages 
of  their  toil  has  sadly  shrunk  in  its  purchasing  power. 

“If  this  silver  coinage  be  continued,  we  may  reason¬ 
ably  expect  that  gold  and  its  equivalent  will  abandon 
the  field  of  circulation  to  silver  alone.  This,  of  course, 
must  produce  a  severe  contraction  of  our  circulating  me¬ 
dium,  instead  of  adding  to  it. 

“It  will  not  be  disputed  that  any  attempt  ...  to 
cause  the  circulation  of  silver  dollars  worth  80  cents  side 
by  side  with  gold  dollars  worth  ioo  cents  ...  to  be  suc¬ 
cessful  must  be  seconded  by  the  confidence  of  the  people 
that  both  coins  will  retain  the  same  purchasing  power 
and  be  interchangeable  at  will.” 

He  was  willing  to  concede  that,  with  the  concurrent 
action  of  the  other  great  nations,  the  problem  of  maintain¬ 
ing  a  set  ratio  between  gold  and  silver  would  present  a  dif¬ 
ferent  aspect;  but  all  efforts  in  that  direction  had  failed, 
“and  still  we  continue  our  coinage  of  silver  at  a  ratio 
different  from  that  of  any  other  nation.  .  .  .  Without  an 
ally  or  friend  we  battle  upon  the  silver  field  in  an  illogi¬ 
cal  and  losing  contest.” 

He  reminded  Congress  that  the  five  countries  com¬ 
posing  the  Latin  Union  had  not  only  refused,  as  had  the 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  1 9 

leading  countries  of  Europe,  to  join  in  a  movement  to 
maintain  a  fixed  ratio  between  gold  and  silver,  but  had 
“just  completed  an  agreement  among  themselves  that  no 
more  silver  shall  be  coined  by  their  respective  govern¬ 
ments  and  that  such  as  has  been  already  coined  .  .  . 
shall  be  redeemed  in  gold  by  the  country  of  its  coinage.” 

Such  conditions,  he  concluded,  make  it  the  duty  of 
the  President  to  “recommend  the  suspension  of  the  com¬ 
pulsory  coinage  of  silver  dollars,  directed  by  the  law 
passed  in  February,  1878.”  This  recommendation  had, 
however,  not  been  heeded,  and  the  mints  had  continued 
to  turn  out  silver  dollars,  a  large  percentage  of  whose 
declared  value  was  merely  psychological.  By  Decem¬ 
ber,  1886,  there  were  in  circulation  247,131,549  of  these 
dollars,  worth  barely  seventy-eight  cents  each. 

By  1890  Mr.  Cleveland’s  dire  prophecies  had  begun 
to  be  realized.  Prosperity  was  giving  place  to  hard 
times.  Cautious  men  were  unloading  securities,  and 
values  had  begun  to  shrivel  in  the  hands  of  holders.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  first  six  months  of  1890  the  mortgages  of  over  a 
score  of  railroad  companies  were  foreclosed,  and  the 
Barings’s  collapse  in  England  later  in  the  year  caused 
widespread  consternation. 

Then  there  had  appeared  again,  with  their  customary 
attendant  disasters,  two  ancient  heresies:  the  first,  that 
when  business  languishes  the  enactment  of  a  high  tariff 
law  will  restore  prosperity  and  bring  financial  stability. 
But  the  McKinley  tariff,  with  its  unprecedented  protec¬ 
tive  features,  failed  to  accomplish  this  result. 

The  other  delusion  is  to  the  effect  that  a  sure  remedy 
for  failing  confidence  and  hard  times  may  be  found  in 
a  sudden  increase  in  the  volume  of  money,  irrespective 
of  the  foundations  upon  which  that  volume  rests.  This 
remedy  was  also  applied  in  1890  by  the  enactment  of  the 


20 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


so-called  Sherman  Act,  which  made  it  imperative  for  the 
Treasury  Department  to  purchase  4^  million  ounces  of 
silver  each  month.  But  the  business  decline  was  not 
stopped  by  the  operation  of  the  Sherman  Act.  On  the 
contrary,  those  monthly  purchases  of  silver  only  added  to 
existing  uncertainties  the  portentous  question  whether,  if 
the  issues  of  the  government  against  silver  purchases  were 
continued,  it  would  be  possible  to  maintain  the  parity 
between  gold  and  silver  which  the  law  required. 

When  retiring  from  office,  at  the  end  of  his  first  term, 
Mr.  Cleveland  had  turned  over  to  Harrison  a  cash  bal¬ 
ance  of  $281,000,000  of  which  $196,689,614  was  in  gold. 
From  Harrison  he  received  back  in  1893  only  $II2r 
450,577  of  which  only  $103,500,000  was  in  gold;  and  this 
gold  reserve  would  certainly  have  been  below  the  $100,- 
000,000  mark,  the  point  fixed  by  the  act  of  July  12,  1882, 
as  the  danger  point,  had  not  Secretary  Foster  during 
January  and  February,  1893,  obtained  several  millions 
in  gold  from  greenbacks  sold  to  New  York  bankers,  with 
the  definite  purpose  of  keeping  the  gold  reserve  secure, 
at  least  until  the  end  of  his  period  of  direct  responsibility. 
By  such  a  makeshift,  Foster  had  managed  to  keep  the 
gold  reserve  within  the  $100,000,000  limit,  but,  as  Mr. 
Cleveland  clearly  understood,  now  must  come  the  deluge, 
unless  he  could  find  some  way  to  check  the  financial 
forces  which  had  so  disturbed  the  last  days  of  the  Harri¬ 
son  administration. 

Even  before  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Law,  far¬ 
sighted  financiers  had  foreseen  the  necessity  of  issuing 
bonds  in  purchase  of  gold,  if  the  gold  standard  was  to 
endure,  for  they  felt  certain  that  it  was  hopeless  to  look 
to  Congress  for  legislation  sufficient  to  stem  the  tide 
which  was  setting  so  hard  toward  the  disaster  of  a  silver 
basis. 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  21 

On  February  28,  1893,  August  Belmont  had  written 
to  the  President-elect:  “I  have  cabled  to  London  very 
fully  and  hope  for  a  reply  which  will  enable  me  to  bring 
before  you  the  basis  of  an  actual  plan.  The  more  I  think 
the  subject  over,  the  more  fully  satisfied  I  am  that  not 
only  will  it  be  best  to  sell  $50  million  of  bds.,  but  it  is 
essential  that  they  should  be  sold  abroad  if  they  are  to 
serve  the  purpose  at  all.  ...  I  am  going  to  work  to 
sound  the  Bank  Presidents.  I  have  two  supporters  al¬ 
ready.  Of  course  I  have  betrayed  nothing. 

“The  difficulty  is  there  is  not  ‘anything  in  it’  so  to 
speak  for  the  Banks  in  my  plan.” 

Inauguration  day  found  the  President  still  searching 
a  solution  other  than  the  issuance  of  bonds  in  time  of 
peace. 

“In  our  effort  to  meet  the  emergency  without  an  issue 
of  bonds,”  he  wrote  in  after  years,  “Secretary  Carlisle 
immediately  applied  to  banks  in  different  localities  for 
an  exchange  with  the  government  of  a  portion  of  their 
holdings  of  gold  coin  for  other  forms  of  currency.  The 
effect  was  so  far  successful  that  on  the  twenty-fifth  of 
March  the  gold  reserve  amounted  to  over  $107,000,000, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  considerable  withdrawals 
had  been  made  in  the  interval. 

“The  slight  betterment  thus  secured  proved,  however, 
to  be  only  temporary;  for  under  the  stress  of  continued 
and  augmented  withdrawals,  the  gold  reserve,  on  the 
twenty-second  day  of  April,  1893,  for  the  first  time  since 
its  establishment,  was  reduced  below  the  $100,000,000 
limit — amounting  on  that  day  to  about  $97,000,000.” 

While  this  fact,  which  a  generation  of  financiers  had 
learned  to  couple  with  thoughts  of  inevitable  financial 
collapse,  was  not  followed  by  any  sudden  and  distinctly 
new  disaster,  it  had  the  effect  of  increasing  the  hoarding 


22 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


of  gold  and  its  exportation.  Furthermore,  gold  almost 
ceased  to  come  into  the  Federal  Treasury  through  cus¬ 
toms  and  other  revenue  charges. 

During  the  anxious  weeks  in  which  the  President  had 
been  seeking  a  remedy  which  would  check  these  inroads 
upon  the  gold  reserve,  and  avert  disaster,  he  had  let  it  be 
known  that  suggestions  from  men  skilled  in  currency 
questions  would  be  welcome,  and  advice  now  came  in 
a  deluge  from  men  urging  action,  from  men  urging  cau¬ 
tion,  from  silver  men,  gold  men,  bimetallists,  special 
pleaders  for  every  conceivable  type  of  currency  reform. 
Henry  Clews,  an  eminent  figure  in  the  world  of  finance, 
called  the  President’s  attention  to  the  fact  that  “eighty- 
three  cents  per  ounce  or  thereabouts  in  New  York  and 
thirty-eight  pence  in  London  is  now  recognized  as  the 
world’s  value  for  silver,  being  equal  to  in  the  neighbor¬ 
hood  of  twenty-five  silver  to  one  gold,”  and  suggested 
that  if  the  government  would  recoin  its  silver,  allowing 
such  a  ratio,  “silver  certificates  or  silver  coin  dollars 
will  be  of  equal  value  to  gold  certificates  or  gold  coin 
dollars.” 

Mr.  Clews  also  contributed  a  summary  of  facts  re¬ 
garding  the  existing  currency:  “There  are  now  outstand¬ 
ing  $346,000,000  of  U.  S.  legal  tender  notes  (called 
greenbacks),  $328,226,504  legal  tender  treasury  notes 
issued  under  the  Bland  Act,  and  $135,490,148  of  notes 
issued  under  the  Sherman  1890  Act,  making  in  all  $809,- 
716,652.  All  these  notes  are  direct  obligations  of  the 
government,  all  possess  the  legal  tender  quality  alike; 
the  three  different  acts  authorizing  their  issue  specify 
that  they  are  payable  at  the  U.  S.  Treasury  in  coin. 

“Since  the  resumption  of  gold  payments  these  notes 
have  all  been  treated  alike  and  have  been  redeemed  in 
gold  coin,  not  silver.  Now  it  is  feared  that  Secretary  Car- 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  2J 

lisle  intends  to  change  their  present  status  into  two  classes 
— the  $346,000,000  greenbacks  to  remain  as  gold  notes, 
and  the  $328,226,504  Bland  notes,  together  with  the 
$135,490,148  issued  under  the  Sherman  Act,  to  be  recog¬ 
nized  as  silver  obligations.” 

As  the  Sherman  Act  allowed  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  to  redeem  the  notes  issued  in  payment  of  this 
silver  bullion  “in  gold  or  silver  coin  at  his  discretion,” 
it  would  have  been  easy  to  establish  the  policy  of  pay¬ 
ing  them  in  silver,  even  to  holders  desiring  gold,  but 
for  the  fact  that  the  law  declared  it  the  established  policy 
of  the  United  States  to  maintain  the  two  metals  at  a 
parity. 

This  clause,  to  quote  Mr.  Cleveland,  “had  the  effect 
of  transferring  the  discretion  of  determining  whether 
these  Treasury  notes  should  be  redeemed  in  gold  or  silver 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  the  holder  of  the 
notes.  Manifestly,  in  the  face  of  this  assertion  of  the 
government’s  intention,  a  demand  for  gold  redemption 
on  the  part  of  the  holders  of  such  notes  could  not  be 
refused,  and  the  acceptance  of  silver  dollars  insisted 
upon,  without  either  subjecting  to  doubt  the  good  faith 
and  honest  intention  of  the  government’s  professions,  or 
creating  a  suspicion  of  our  country’s  solvency.  The 
parity  .  .  .  would  be  distinctly  denied,  if  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  persisted  in  redeeming  these  notes, 
against  the  will  of  the  holders,  in  dollars  of  silver  instead 
of  gold.” 

At  this  point,  the  rumor  was  circulated  that  Secretary 
Carlisle  was  nevertheless  planning  so  to  redeem  them. 
At  once  financial  circles  poured  in  upon  the  President  a 
flood  of  protest. 

“The  report  .  .  .  has  created  very  grave  alarm  here,” 
wrote  L.  Clarke  Davis  from  Philadelphia.  “I  have  just 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


24 

received  a  letter  from  a  leading  banker,  your  friend  Mr. 
Drexel,  who  .  .  .  says:  ‘If  the  arrangement  is  made  that 
the  silver  notes  will  only  be  paid  in  silver  the  result  will 
be  that  all  public  dues  will  be  gradually  paid  in  those 
notes,  in  which  case  where  will  the  gold  accrue  from  to 
pay  the  gold  interest  on  the  public  debt,  as  the  receipts 
of  the  Sub-Treasury  will  all  be  in  silver?  The  feeling 
here  is  (in  which  I  cordially  join)  that  it  will  be  far  bet¬ 
ter  to  encroach  upon  the  hundred  million  reserve  if  the 
department  is  not  willing  to  sell  bonds  abroad.’  ” 

A  few  hours  before  this  letter  was  received,  Secre¬ 
tary  Carlisle  issued  a  statement,  designed  but  not  calcu¬ 
lated  to  relieve  the  public  mind  of  doubt  in  this  impor¬ 
tant  regard.  It  was  so  ambiguous  as  to  increase  rather 
than  to  quiet  public  apprehension,  and  made  it  necessary 
for  the  President  himself  to  declare  publicly  that  gold 
payments  would  continue  so  long  as  he  remained  Presi¬ 
dent.  A  letter  from  Andrew  Carnegie,  written  two  days 
after  Carlisle’s  announcement,  strongly  urged  this  course : 

“Let  me  assure  you  that  in  my  opinion  the  decision 
to  pay  notes  in  gold  saved  this  country  from  panic  and 
entire  confusion  in  its  industrial  interests.  From  my  own 
experience  I  can  tell  you  that  foreigners  had  taken  alarm 
and  had  begun  to  withdraw  their  capital  in  gold.  Unless 
all  doubt  is  put  to  rest,  there  is  still  great  danger  of  the 
country  being  drained  of  its  gold.” 

He  urged  the  President  to  make  a  public  declaration. 
“If  I  might  suggest,”  he  said,  “the  announcement  should 
be  somewhat  like  the  following:  ‘As  long  as  I  am  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  United  States,  the  workingman  is  going  to 
be  paid  in  as  good  dollars  as  the  foreign  banker  is.’  ” 
Such  a  statement  would  be  “good  politics,”  he  said,  and 
added:  “I  have  spoken  to  many  Republicans,  and  with¬ 
out  exception  they  agree  that  in  standing  for  sound 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  25 

money,  and  the  parity  of  gold  and  silver,  you  will  receive 
almost  the  unanimous  support  of  the  Republican  party.” 

On  April  2d  the  President’s  public  declaration 
was  issued,  in  the  spirit  though  not  in  the  words  which 
Mr.  Carnegie  had  suggested: 

“The  inclination  on  the  part  of  the  public  to  accept 
newspaper  reports  concerning  the  intentions  of  those 
charged  with  the  management  of  our  national  finances, 
seems  to  justify  my  emphatic  contradiction  of  the  state¬ 
ment  that  the  redemption  of  any  kind  of  Treasury  notes, 
except  in  gold,  has  at  any  time  been  determined  upon 
or  contemplated  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  or  any 
other  member  of  the  present  Administration. 

“The  President  and  his  Cabinet  are  absolutely  har¬ 
monious  in  the  determination  to  exercise  every  power 
conferred  upon  them  to  maintain  the  public  credit,  to 
keep  the  public  faith  and  to  preserve  the  parity  between 
gold  and  silver  and  between  all  financial  obligations  of 
the  Government.  .  . 

Such  a  declaration  of  executive  intention,  however, 
the  President  knew  to  be  vain  unless  Congress  could  be 
induced  to  alter  the  laws  responsible  for  the  nation’s 
financial  plight,  and  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Law  thus 
became  the  first  item  on  his  program.  This  meant,  of 
course,  a  special  session  of  Congress,  for  which  the  sound 
money  men  of  both  parties  and  the  general  public  were 
clamoring. 

On  May  12th,  Carl  Schurz  wrote:  “Before  leaving 
Washington  I  had  a  conversation  with  Secretary  Carlisle 
about  the  financial  situation,  in  the  course  of  which  he 
expressed  himself  as  more  and  more  inclined  to  think 
that  the  earliest  possible  calling  together  of  Congress — 


26 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


earlier  than  September — would  be  advisable.  I  am  very 
much  of  the  same  opinion.  The  financial  situation  of 
the  country  is  becoming  more  critical  every  day.  The 
failures  and  restrictions  of  credit  which  have  already 
occurred  are  only  a  premonitory  symptom.  Whatever 
measures  the  Executive  alone  can  take,  will  only  be  pal¬ 
liatives,  temporary  makeshifts.  I  fear  you  take  too  great 
a  responsibility  upon  yourself  for  what  may  happen 
if  the  meeting  of  Congress  is  put  off  unnecessarily 
long.” 

August  Belmont  warned  him  of  confidential  news 
from  England  to  the  effect  that  the  Indian  mints  were 
about  to  be  closed  to  silver.  “The  race  between  India 
and  the  United  States  to  get  upon  dry  ground  first,”  he 
said,  “is  all  in  favor  of  India,  unless  we  act  with  the 
greatest  promptitude.” 

Harvey  Fisk  and  Sons  issued  a  circular  letter  declar¬ 
ing  “the  actual  intrinsic  value  of  our  present  silver  dol¬ 
lar  is  but  fifty-three  cents  and  growing  less  each  day. 
Still  this  great  American  nation  is  obliged  to  calmly  face 
inevitable  ruin — the  sweeping  away  of  far  more  wealth 
than  was  involved  in  the  great  war  between  the  North 
and  the  South,  simply  "because  its  representatives  are  not 
called  together,  in  accordance  with  the  authority  vested 
in  its  Chief  Executive,  and  forced  to  remove  from  the 
Statute  Books  the  law  which  is  eating  away  the  vitals 
of  American  honesty.” 

Hundreds  of  resolutions  to  the  same  effect  were  passed 
by  chambers  of  commerce,  business  men’s  clubs,  bankers’ 
associations,  churches,  congresses  of  voters,  mass  meet¬ 
ings,  etc.,  and  sent  by  telegram,  by  special  messenger,  by 
solemn  delegation.  They  warned,  they  coaxed,  they 
threatened;  but  they  did  not  cause  the  President  to  act 
hastily. 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  27 

On  June  4th,  however,  Mr.  Cleveland  intimated  to 
a  representative  of  the  United  Press  that  Congress  would 
be  speedily  summoned  and  asked  to  stop  the  silver  pur¬ 
chases.  Again  his  letter  pouch  jumped  to  twice  its  nor¬ 
mal  size.  Again  prophecies  of  calamity  came  from  free 
silver  men,  again  gold  men  praised  him  for  his  sane  finan¬ 
cial  views  and  clamored  for  the  program  of  reform. 

At  this  point,  the  President  suddenly  faced  the  ap¬ 
palling  discovery  that  a  virulent  growth  in  the  roof  of 
his  mouth  menaced  him  with  death  unless  an  operation 
were  immediately  performed.  Dr.  W.  W.  Keen  gives 
this  account  of  the  case:  “On  Sunday, -June  18,  1893,  Dr. 
R.  M.  O’Reilly — later  Surgeon-General  of  the  United 
States  Army — the  official  medical  attendant  on  officers 
of  the  government  in  Washington,  examined  a  rough 
place  on  the  roof  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  mouth.  He  found 
an  ulcer  as  large  as  a  quarter  of  a  dollar,  extending  from 
the  molar  teeth  to  within  one  third  of  an  inch  of  the 
middle  line,  and  encroaching  slightly  on  the  soft  palate, 
and  some  diseased  bone.” 

A  small  fragment  was  subjected  to  the  scrutiny  of  a 
pathologist  and  pronounced  strongly  indicative  of  ma¬ 
lignancy.  The  President’s  personal  physician  and  inti¬ 
mate  friend,  Dr.  Joseph  D.  Bryant,  was  therefore  sum¬ 
moned  to  Washington  and,  after  a  careful  examination 
of  the  malignant  area,  urged  an  immediate  operation. 
The  President  accepted  the  verdict,  but  insisted  that  abso¬ 
lute  secrecy  be  observed,  as  he  feared  the  effect  which 
an  announcement  of  his  peril  might  have  upon  the  already 
alarming  financial  situation. 

With  this  in  view,  it  was  decided  that  the  operation 
should  be  performed  on  Commodore  Benedict’s  yacht, 
the  Oneida,  in  which  Mr.  Cleveland  had  already  traveled 
over  fifty  thousand  miles,  and  which  he  could  therefore 


28 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


board  without  arousing  suspicion.  As  Dr.  Bryant  was 
of  the  opinion  that  he  ought  to  be  in  condition  to  return 
to  Washington  within  about  five  weeks  after  the  opera¬ 
tion,  Mr.  Cleveland  prepared  a  proclamation  summon¬ 
ing  Congress  to  meet  in  special  session  on  August  7th,  to 
consider  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Law;  and  on  the  day 
of  its  publication,  June  30,  1893,  with  every  precaution 
for  secrecy,  he  joined  his  surgeons  on  the  Oneida  in  New 
York  Harbor. 

“I  reached  New  York  City  in  the  evening,”  writes 
Dr.  Keen,  “went  to  Pier  A,  and  was  taken  over  to  the 
yacht,  which  was  lying  at  anchor  at  a  considerable  dis¬ 
tance  from  the  Battery.  Dr.  E.  G.  Janeway,  of  New 
York;  Dr.  O’Reilly;  Dr.  John  F.  Erdmann,  Dr.  Bryant’s 
assistant;  and  Dr.  Hasbrouck  had  also  secretly  gone  to 
the  yacht.  The  President,  Dr.  Bryant  and  Secretary  La- 
mont,  at  a  later  hour,  arrived  from  Washington,  and 
openly  drove  to  Pier  A,  whence  they  were  taken  to  the 
yacht.  .  .  .  On  arriving  on  the  yacht,  the  President 
lighted  a  cigar,  and  we  sat  on  deck  smoking  and  chatting 
until  near  midnight.  Once  he  burst  out  with,  ‘Oh,  Doctor 
Keen,  those  office  seekers!  Those  office  seekers!  They 
haunt  me  in  my  dreams!’  ” 

For  the  time  at  least  he  was  secure  from  their  intru¬ 
sion.  Early  the  next  morning,  the  Oneida  weighed  anchor 
and  proceeded  at  half  speed  up  the  East  River,  the  Presi¬ 
dent,  under  nitrous  oxide,  stretched  upon  the  operating 
table,  the  doctors  performing  the  extremely  delicate  oper¬ 
ation  of  removing  “the  entire  left  upper  jaw  .  .  .  from 
the  first  bicuspid  tooth  to  just  beyond  the  last  molar,  and 
nearly  up  to  the  middle  line.  ...  A  small  portion  of 
the  soft  palate  was  removed”  also. 

The  operation  was  performed  without  external  inci¬ 
sion,  and  was  completed  at  1.55  P.M.  “At  2.55  P.M.  a 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  29 

hypodermic  of  one  sixth  of  a  grain  of  morphine  was 
given — the  only  narcotic  administered  at  any  time.” 

Five  days  later  the  Oneida  dropped  anchor  at  Gray 
Gables,  and  the  patient  walked  from  the  launch  to  his 
residence  with  little  apparent  effort. 

A  second  slight  operation  twelve  days  later,  and  the 
surgical  work  was  over.  Dr.  Kasson  C.  Gibson,  of  New 
York,  then  fitted  Mr.  Cleveland  with  an  artificial  jaw 
of  vulcanized  rubber  and  “when  it  was  in  place  the  Presi¬ 
dent’s  speech  was  excellent,  even  its  quality  not  being 
altered.”  “He  was,”  concludes  Dr.  Keen’s  interesting 
monograph,  “the  most  docile  and  courageous  patient  I 
ever  had  the  pleasure  of  attending.” 

Upon  this  point  there  appears  a  difference  of  opinion. 
In  an  intimate  letter  to  Colonel  Lamont,  Dr.  Bryant  la¬ 
ments  the  President’s  tendency  to  disobey  orders  regard¬ 
ing  the  medicines  prescribed :  “I  .  .  .  found  him  grunt¬ 
ing  as  you  know  full  well,  suffering  from  an  excess  of 
medicine  rather  than  the  lack  of  it.  He  always  believes 
that  if  a  little  will  do  some  good,  a  bottle  full  must  be 
of  great  advantage  indeed.  On  that  theory  he  had  se¬ 
cured  the  full  effects  of  the  prescription  I  sent  him,  as 
well  as  some  after  effects.” 

To  this  we  may  add  his  wife’s  view  of  his  docility 
as  later  expressed  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Joseph  Jefferson: 
“H  e  is  hard  at  work  on  his  letters.  It  is  so  dreadfully 
hard  to  do  anything  with  him.  This  morning  when  no 
one  noticed  he  got  a  peach  and  ate  it.  Wouldn’t  you 
think  a  child  would  have  more  sense  after  the  narrow 
escape  he  had?” 

In  memory  of  his  insubordination,  Commodore  Bene¬ 
dict  sent  him  the  following  lines,  which  he  greatly 
enjoyed : 


30 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


“Friday  sorry,  yet  defiant, 

Next  day,  send  for  Doctor  Bryant.” 

Mr.  Cleveland,  however,  defended  his  defiance  with 
the  words:  “I  am  not  so  dreadfully  heedless  of  the  care 
I  owe  myself  (for  others’  sake)  as  is  suspected  of  me; 
and  touching  the  Doctor’s  accusation  of  indiscretion,  is 
it  not  in  the  very  nature  of  faithful,  devoted,  and  anxious 
medical  ministrations  to  find  patients  indiscreet?” 

At  times  also  he  expressed  misgivings  regarding  the 
science  of  healing.  To  Richard  Watson  Gilder  he  gave 
the  following  enigmatical  advice:  “I  hope  that  either 
by  following  your  Doctor’s  directions  or  defiantly  dis¬ 
obeying  them  (the  chances  probably  being  even  in  both 
contingencies),  you  will  soon  regain  your  very  best  estate 
in  the  matter  of  health.  Don’t  forget  at  any  time — what¬ 
ever  you  do — that  ‘good  men  are  scarce.’  ” 

But  though  the  President’s  docility  is  thus  called  into 
question,  none  can  doubt  the  justice  of  Dr.  Keen’s  second 
attribute — that  of  courage.  Terribly  weakened  by  loss 
of  blood,  and  believing  himself  still  under  the  shadow 
of  death,  Mr.  Cleveland  strove  to  prepare  a  message 
for  the  pending  special  session  of  Congress.  For  some 
time  after  the  operation  he  received  no  visitors,  until, 
in  view  of  the  menacing  condition  of  national  finances, 
he  admitted  Secretary  Olney,  who  in  a  brief  memoran¬ 
dum  gives  the  story  of  his  part  in  the  preparation  of  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  silver  message: 

“After  an  interval  of  a  fortnight,  more  or  less,  during 
which  I  made  frequent  attempts  to  see  Mr.  Cleveland, 
I  succeeded  in  having  an  interview.  He  had  changed 
a  good  deal  in  appearance,  and  lost  a  good  deal  of  flesh, 
and  his  mouth  was  so  stuffed  with  antiseptic  wads  that  he 
could  hardly  articulate.  The  first  utterance  that  I  un¬ 
derstood  was  something  like  this :  ‘My  God,  Olney,  they 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  3 1 

nearly  killed  me.’  He  did  not  talk  much,  was  very  much 
depressed,  and  at  the  same  time  acted,  and  I  believe  felt, 
as  if  he  did  not  expect  to  recover.” 

After  a  painful  attempt  to  discuss  with  Mr.  Olney 
the  great  issue  to  be  laid  before  the  coming  session,  Mr. 
Cleveland  produced  the  manuscript  of  the  message  upon 
which  he  was  spending  his  remaining  strength. 

“There  were  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  lines,”  writes 
Mr.  Olney,  “forming  the  first  two  paragraphs  of  the  mes¬ 
sage  as  eventually  sent  to  Congress.  He  was  very  de¬ 
pressed  about  the  progress  he  was  making  and  com¬ 
plained  that  his  mind  would  not  work,  and,  upon  my 
suggestion  that  I  might  perhaps  be  of  assistance,  was 
evidently  much  relieved.  In  the  course  of  two  or  three 
days  I  went  to  Gray  Gables  with  a  draft  of  a  message, 
which  was  approved  by  Mr.  Cleveland  practically  as 
drawn.  ...  So  far  as  I  know,  Mr.  Carlisle  was  the  only 
member  of  the  Cabinet  who  saw  the  message  before  it 
was  sent  in.” 

A  comparison  of  Mr.  Olney’s  draft  with  the  message 
as  finally  sent  to  Congress  shows  that  only  fifty-three  lines 
out  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  were  adapted  from 
the  Olney  draft.  The  body  of  the  argument  is  clearly 
the  President’s  own  work  and  proves  beyond  question 
that,  despite  his  forlorn  appearance,  he  was  still  deter¬ 
mined  to  write  his  own  state  papers. 

Mr.  Cleveland  reached  Washington  on  August  3th, 
prepared  to  give  his  personal  direction  to  the  launching 
of  the  movement  to  repeal  the  Sherman  Law.  Among 
his  papers  is  a  poll  of  Congress,  name  by  name,  designed 
to  inform  him  of  their  attitude.  It  shows  1 14  silver  men, 
173  anti-silver  men,  and  69  marked  doubtful,  and  bears 
testimony  to  the  fact  that  he  understood  the  very  difficult 
task  which  awaited  him. 


32 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


His  special  message  was  read  to  Congress  on  August 
8,  1893,  and  demanded  “the  prompt  repeal  of  the  pro¬ 
visions  of  the  act  passed  July  14,  1890,  authorizing  the 
purchase  of  silver  bullion.”  It  is  a  document  difficult 
to  condense  or  epitomize,  for  it  is  itself  an  epitome,  the 
compact  argument  of  a  singularly  concrete  mind.  It  is 
the  case  against  free  silver  compressed  into  two  thousand 
words. 

“Our  unfortunate  financial  plight  is  not  the  result  of 
untoward  events,  nor  of  conditions  related  to  our  natural 
resources,  nor  is  it  traceable  to  any  of  the  afflictions  which 
frequently  check  national  growth  and  prosperity.  With 
plenteous  crops,  with  abundant  promise  of  remunera¬ 
tive  production  and  manufacture,  with  unusual  invita¬ 
tion  to  safe  investment,  and  with  satisfactory  assurance 
to  business  enterprise,  suddenly  financial  distrust  and  fear 
have  sprung  up  on  every  side.  Numerous  moneyed  in¬ 
stitutions  have  suspended  because  abundant  assets  were 
not  immediately  available  to  meet  the  demands  of  fright¬ 
ened  depositors.  .  .  .  These  things  are  principally 
chargeable  to  Congressional  legislation  touching  the  pur¬ 
chase  and  coinage  of  silver  by  the  general  Government. 

“Undoubtedly  the  monthly  purchases  by  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  4,500,000  ounces  of  silver,  enforced  under  that 
statute,  were  regarded  by  those  interested  in  silver  pro¬ 
duction  as  a  certain  guarantee  of  its  increase  in  price. 
The  result,  however,  has  been  entirely  different,  for  im¬ 
mediately  following  a  spasmodic  and  slight  rise,  the  price 
of  silver  began  to  fall  after  the  passage  of  the  act,  and 
has  since  reached  the  lowest  point  ever  known.  This 
disappointing  result  has  led  to  renewed  and  persistent 
effort  in  the  direction  of  free  silver  coinage. 

“The  policy  necessarily  adopted  of  paying  these  silver 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  33 

notes  in  gold  has  not  spared  the  gold  reserve  of  $100,- 
000,000  long  ago  set  aside  by  the  Government  for  the 
redemption  of  other  notes.  .  .  .  Between  the  first  day  of 
July,  1890,  and  the  15th  day  of  July,  1893,  the  gold  coin 
and  bullion  in  our  Treasury  decreased  more  than  132 
million  dollars,  while  during  the  same  period  the  silver 
coin  and  bullion  .  .  .  increased  more  than  a  hundred 
and  forty-seven  million.  Unless  Government  bonds  are 
to  be  constantly  issued  and  sold  to  replenish  our  exhausted 
gold,  only  to  be  again  exhausted,  it  is  apparent  that  the 
operation  of  the  silver  purchase  law  now  in  force  leads 
in  the  direction  of  the  entire  substitution  of  silver  for 
gold  in  the  Government  Treasury,  and  that  this  must 
be  followed  by  the  payment  of  all  Government  obliga¬ 
tions  in  depreciated  silver.  .  .  .  Our  Government  cannot 
make  its  fiat  equivalent  to  intrinsic  value,  nor  keep  in¬ 
ferior  money  on  a  parity  with  superior  money.  .  .  . 

“The  people  of  the  United  States  are  entitled  to  a 
sound  and  stable  currency,  and  to  money  recognized  as 
such  on  every  exchange  and  in  every  market  of  the  world. 
Their  government  has  no  right  to  injure  them  by  finan¬ 
cial  experiments  opposed  to  the  policy  and  practice  of 
other  civilized  states.” 

Confidently,  almost  imperiously,  in  the  interest  of  the 
whole  nation,  the  message  demanded  the  repeal  of  the 
Act  of  July  14,  1890,  “condemned  by  the  ordeal  of  three 
years’  disastrous  experience.” 

The  appearance  of  this  Cleveland-Olney  message 
marks  the  stage  in  the  silver  conflict  which  placed  Mr. 
Cleveland  and  Mr.  Bryan  squarely  before  the  country 
as  leaders  of  opposing  factions  in  the  Democratic  party. 
Bryan  was  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  lower  house, 
elected  as  a  Democrat,  and  abundantly  willing  to  defend 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


34 

the  position  that  free  silver  was  a  proper  article  in  the 
Democratic  creed.  Until  after  the  launching  of  the 
Cleveland  boom  of  1892,  he  had  been  a  consistent  Cleve¬ 
land  man;  but  a  change  had  recently  taken  place  in  his 
attitude  toward  his  party  chief.  In  a  letter  to  Jesse  D. 
Carr,  dated  May  22,  1903,  Mr.  Bryan  wrote: 

“I  was  an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  Mr.  Cleveland 
in  1884  and  in  1888.  But  between  ’88  and  ’92  I  began 
to  study  the  money  question,  and  when  I  came  to  under¬ 
stand  its  principles,  I  became  an  opponent  of  Cleveland’s 
renomination,  but  it  required  his  second  administration 
to  fully  enlighten  me  upon  the  designs  and  methods  of 
Wall  Street.  I  have  no  doubt  from  my  observation  of 
his  course  that  the  financiers  put  up  the  money  that  se¬ 
cured  his  nomination  in  1892,  and  I  know  they  furnished 
large  sums  of  money  to  secure  his  election.  His  Com¬ 
mittee  spent  $900,000  in  the  state  of  New  York  and 
among  the  contributors  to  his  campaign  fund  was  the 
Sugar  Trust  which  gave  $175,000. 

“When  he  made  up  his  Cabinet  he  deliberately 
ignored  the  silver  men  who  represented  the  majority  of 
the  voters,  and  put  gold  men  into  the  Cabinet.  When  he 
called  Congress  together  in  extraordinary  session,  he  used 
all  the  patronage  in  his  possession  to  corrupt  members 
and  he  used  important  positions  in  the  foreign  service 
to  reward  men  who  had  betrayed  their  constituents.  He 
was  completely  dominated  by  the  banking  influence  in 
New  York  City.” 

That  “the  interests”  contributed  largely  to  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land’s  campaign  of  1892  is  unquestionably  true,  but  the 
innuendo  that  Mr.  Cleveland  sold  himself  to  Wall  Street 
in  order  to  win  his  way  back  to  the  White  House  is  not 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  35 

justified  by  a  single  line  of  evidence,  and  is  most  unques¬ 
tionably  untrue. 

Though  his  own  acts  were  often  unfairly  criticized, 
Mr.  Cleveland  himself  habitually  refrained  from  ascrib¬ 
ing  unworthy  motives  to  his  political  opponents.  “Be¬ 
cause  .  .  .  views  are  various  and  conflicting,  some  of 
them  must  be  wrong,”  he  once  wrote,  “and  yet  when  they 
are  honestly  held  and  advocated,  they  should  provoke  no 
bitterness  nor  condemnation.”  He  did  not  doubt  Mr. 
Bryan’s  loyalty  to  the  country,  but  he  did  not  think  that 
this  excused  Mr.  Bryan’s  financial  heresies.  As  he  him¬ 
self  expressed  it:  “Patriotism  is  no  substitute  for  a  sound 
currency.”  He  acknowledged  that  free  silver  men  could 
be  loyal  Americans,  but  he  emphatically  denied  that  they 
could  be  real  Democrats,  for  he  read  into  the  Democratic 
party  the  principle  of  devotion  to  a  currency  system  which 
would  force  no  American  to  accept  as  a  dollar  that  which 
was  not  intrinsically  worth  a  dollar. 

On  August  nth,  Congressman  Wilson,  of  West  Vir¬ 
ginia, -presented  a  bill  to  repeal  the  Sherman  Law.  With 
unfortunate  lack  of  skill,  if  the  aim  was  to  rally  Demo¬ 
crats,  it  was  drawn  in  close  imitation  of  a  bill  which 
Senator  Sherman  had  presented  to  the  Senate  on  July 
14,  1892,  a  fact  which  made  it  easier  for  free  silver  Demo¬ 
crats  to  deny  that  it  embodied  Democratic  doctrines. 

Taking  advantage  of  this  fact,  the  free  silver  leader, 
Richard  P.  Bland,  of  Missouri,  offered  a  substitute  look¬ 
ing  toward  the  free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver  at  a 
fixed  ratio;  and  over  these  rival  measures,  both  Demo¬ 
cratic  in  origin,  there  began  at  once  a  fierce  debate,  dur¬ 
ing  which  it  speedily  became  evident  that  all  calculations 
based  upon  titular  party  labels  in  the  House  were  likely 
to  prove  misleading.  Democrats  who  had  been  counted 
upon  at  the  beginning  of  the  administration  to  support 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


36 

the  President,  openly  scorned  his  leadership,  and  the 
Populists  sympathized  with  their  insurgency.  Most  of  the 
Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  showed  marked  sym¬ 
pathy  with  him.  Thus  party  lines,  already  wavering  and 
uncertain  when  the  debate  opened,  grew  more  uncertain 
as  it  continued.  If  the  question  of  the  repeal  of  the  silver 
purchase  clause  transcended  old  party  lines,  why  might 
not  the  larger  question  of  free  silver  be  made  the  basis 
of  new  party  lines? 

That  such  a  thought  had  entered  Mr.  Bryan’s  mind  at 
an  earlier  date  appears  likely,  and  when  he  rose  to  speak, 
on  August  1 6th,  the  thought  of  the  fate  of  silver  ob¬ 
literated  all  thought  of  the  fate  of  the  Democratic  party. 
Twice  he  had  been  elected  to  Congress  as  a  Democrat, 
and  had  there  won  the  right  to  regard  himself  as  the 
man  best  fitted  to  lead  the  hosts  of  free  silver.  Richard 
P.  Bland  was  manifestly  too  old  to  head  a  new  movement; 
Grover  Cleveland,  the  titular  Democratic  leader,  did  not 
count,  for  he,  according  to  Mr.  Bryan’s  judgment,  had 
betrayed  the  party,  deserted  the  people,  and  joined  with 
the  Israelites  of  Wall  Street  in  the  sacrilegious  worship 
of  the  Golden  Calf. 

For  almost  three  hours  Mr.  Bryan  occupied  the  floor, 
the  one  hour  limit  allotted  to  each  speaker  being,  by 
common  consent,  extended  in  his  case.  The  magic  of  his 
personality,  the  unrivaled  beauty  of  his  voice,  and  the 
compelling  eloquence,  which  were  later  to  charm  mil¬ 
lions,  were  fully  in  evidence.  The  inspiration  which  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  message  lacked  breathed  in  every  sentence 
of  Mr.  Bryan’s  impassioned  speech.  But  the  evidence 
of  patient  study  and  searching  thought,  which  appears 
in  every  line  of  the  President’s  argument,  is  missing  from 
the  Congressman’s  appeal.  The  one  instructed  the  mind, 
the  other  played  upon  the  emotions;  the  one  appealed 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  37 

to  reason,  the  other  to  sentiment;  the  one  dealt  in  specific 
facts,  the  other  in  vague  generalizations. 

“Does  any  one  believe,”  asked  Mr.  Bryan,  “that  Mr. 
Cleveland  could  have  been  elected  President  upon  a  plat¬ 
form  declaring  in  favor  of  the  unconditional  repeal  of 
the  Sherman  Law?  Can  we  go  back  to  our  people  and 
tell  them  that,  after  denouncing  for  twenty  years  the 
crime  of  1873,  we  have  at  last  accepted  it  as  a  blessing?” 
The  answer  to  the  first  of  these  questions  must  remain 
purely  speculative,  although  Mr.  Cleveland’s  entire  rec¬ 
ord  had  been  a  prophecy  of  the  action  which  he  was  now 
taking,  and  if  the  voters  of  America  had  re-elected  him  in 
ignorance  of  his  views  on  the  Sherman  Law,  theirs  was 
the  fault,  not  his.  As  to  the  second  question,  the  vote  of 
the  House,  on  August  28,  1893,  repealing  the  debated 
clause  by  a  majority  of  239  to  109,  answered  it  fully,  mak¬ 
ing  it  necessary  for  every  Congressman  to  return  to  his 
constituency  with  the  news  that  Congress  had  agreed  with 
Grover  Cleveland  that  the  “crime  of  1873”  had  been 
but  an  example  of  sound  finance. 

On  account  of  his  weakened  condition  Mr.  Cleveland 
had  remained  only  five  days  in  Washington,  returning  to 
Gray  Gables  on  August  nth,  weary,  but  confident  of 
victory.  When  Congressman  Wilson’s  telegram  arrived 
announcing  the  vote  of  the  House,  he  wired  in  return: 
“Please  accept  for  yourself  and  associates  in  to-day’s 
achievement  my  hearty  congratulations  and  sincere 
thanks.” 

To  those  who  had  closely  followed  the  situation,  how¬ 
ever,  it  was  evident  that  the  victory  was  the  President’s 
victory.  “The  country,”  wrote  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  on  August 
29th,  “is  to  be  congratulated  that  you,  Mr.  President, 
while  others  doubted  and  despaired,  did  not  falter,  and 
succeeded  in  carrying  the  adoption  of  the  only  measure 


38  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

which  will  restore  the  confidence  at  home  and  abroad 
which  the  country  so  sorely  needs.” 

To  the  extreme  silverites,  however,  the  President’s 
victory  was  susceptible  only  of  sinister  interpretation, 
and  it  goaded  them  to  excesses  of  denunciation.  The 
Rocky  Mountain  News  of  August  29,  1893,  declared  the 
repeal  “John  Bull’s  Work,”  its  headlines  announcing  that 
“British  Gold  and  Federal  Patronage”  had  been  used 
“to  bribe  the  American  Congress.”  Beneath  the  head¬ 
line  appeared  a  cartoon  representing  “Grover  and  J. 
Bull,”  unsteadily  dancing  together,  with  hands  clasped 
and  thick  voices  roaring  the  gin-house  melody,  “We  won’t 
go  home  till  morning.” 

As  the  repeal  had  still  to  pass  the  Senate  they  again 
spread,  with  an  energy  worthy  of  a  better  cause,  the  story 
that  Grover  Cleveland  was  the  hired  agent  of  unscrupu¬ 
lous  manipulators  bent  upon  enslaving  the  masses  of  the 
United  States. 

Up  to  this  time  the  secret  of  the  President’s  operation 
had  been  kept  from  the  press.  But  at  this  point  appeared 
an  announcement,  fairly  accurate  in  detail,  as  to  what  had 
transpired  upon  the  Oneida ,  and  though  every  effort  was 
made  by  the  President’s  friends  to  convince  the  public 
that  it  had  no  foundation  in  fact,  the  report  soon  spread 
over  the  country  and  to  foreign  lands. 

On  September  2d,  Ambassador  Bayard  wrote  to  his 
daughter: 

“I  have  been  all  along  since  I  came  abroad  uneasy, 
feeling  that  all  was  not  right  with  Mr.  Cleveland.  I  have 
written  to  him,  but  neither  expected  nor  desired  that  he 
should  increase  his  labors  by  writing  to  me — but  yester¬ 
day  an  English  newspaper  contained  a  statement  from  a 
surgeon  dentist  Dr.  Hasbrouck  detailing  the  very  serious 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  39 

surgical  operation  which  had  been  performed  upon  his 
mouth.  I  confess  I  bent  my  head  and  wept  when  I 
thought  of  the  pain  he  had  suffered  &  the  danger  to  the 
country. 

“Few  know  so  well  as  I  do  the  devotion  of  this  plain 
true  man  to  his  great  duties — what  energies — what  toil, 
what  anxieties  have  been  his  in  the  high  performance  of 
his  duties — and  at  last  his  natural  force  has  abated — 
and  his  weak  link  in  the  chain  of  vitality  has  been 
found. 

“Oh  how  ineffably  base,  mean,  cruel  &  poor  have  been 
the  assaults  upon  him — such  wretched  suspicions  &  sur¬ 
mises,  when  all  the  while  he  was  struggling  with  disease 
&  fighting  the  good  fight  for  the  welfare  &  honor  of  his 
country.  Dear  soul!  how  my  heart  goes  out  to  him  & 
how  much  I  feel  my  absence  from  his  side* 

“I  have  just  written  to  him  what  I  feel  about  him,  but 
I  am  deeply  concerned  &  distressed.  This  pending 
issue  of  the  currency  is  fraught  with  the  most  profound 
&  farreaching  results.  You  may  remember  how  for  years 
I  have  dinned  it  into  the  ears  of  those  around  me  &  how 
little  it  seemed  to  be  comprehended.  Now  the  poison¬ 
ous  effects  have  been  felt  of  a  false  assertion  of  values — 
&  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  costly  experience  of  this  sum¬ 
mer  will  bring  men  to  their  sober  senses. — Should  this 
struggle  cost  Mr.  Cleveland  his  life,  &  also  eventuate 
in  the  vindication  of  his  wisdom  &  devotion  he  will  be 
glorified  in  men’s  memories,  &  generations  yet  unborn 
will  rise  up  &  call  him  blessed.” 

* 

Upon  receipt  of  the  letter  mentioned  by  Mr.  Bayard, 
the  President  sent  his  Ambassador  the  following  charac¬ 
teristic  compound  of  politics  and  family  affairs: 


40  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

Private 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

Sept  ii,  1893. 

My  dear  Mr  Bayard: 

I  received  to-day  your  letter  of  Sept  1st  and  thank 
you  for  it  as  well  as  for  two  or  three  preceding  it  and 
thus  far  unacknowledged.  I  especially  want  to  thank 
you  for  the  splendid  picture  of  yourself  you  sent.  I  think 
it  is  the  best  and  most  faithful  likeness  I  have  ever  seen. 

I  can  well  believe  how  interested  you  are  in  the  sub¬ 
ject  just  now  occupying  the  time  of  the  Senate.  The 
action  of  the  House  was  wonderfully  gratifying  and  the 
majority  we  secured  was  beyond  our  expectations  and  to 
me  was  a  demonstration  that  behind  these  direct  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  the  people  there  was  a  sentiment  that  actu¬ 
ally  drove  them  to  duty. 

The  Senate  is  making  a  shameful  display,  but  no  one 
doubts  that  we  have  a  good  sound  majority  when  the  vote 
comes.  With  this  conceded  by  all,  the  result  hangs  on, 
keeping  back  the  day  of  better  things.  I  shall  not  be 
much  surprised  however  if  the  break  occurs  and  a  vote 
is  reached  sooner  than  the  most  of  us  expect.  Isn’t  it 
queer  that  Voorhees  and  Gorman  should  be  the  leaders 
in  a  cause  in  which  I  am  so  vitally  interested?  “Strange 
bedfellows!”  They  are  I  believe  both  working  well  but 
every  day  is  an  anxious  one  for  me,  fearing  that  some¬ 
thing  may  occur  to  distract  time  and  attention,  from  the 
pending  topic.  .  .  . 

Day  before  yesterday  (the  9th)  my  wife  presented 
me  with  what  is  always  called  I  believe  “a  fine  baby.” 
It’s  a  little  girl  and  they  do  say  it’s  a  healthy  one.  The 
mother  is  as  well  as  she  can  be  and  Ruth  thus  far  seems 
to  think  the  newcomer’s  advent  is  a  great  joke.  You  were 
only  one  of  many  who  were  trapped  by  a  fool  of  a  news- 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN 


41 

paper  man  into  the  premature  expression  of  kind  con¬ 
gratulation.  I  laid  yours  away  and  applied  it  to  the  event 
of  last  Saturday. 

The  report  you  saw  regarding  my  health  resulted 
from  a  most  astounding  breach  of  professional  duty  on 
the  part  of  a  medical  man.  I  tell  you  this  in  strict  confi¬ 
dence  for  the  policy  here  has  been  to  deny  and  discredit 
his  story.  I  believe  the  American  public  and  newspapers 
are  not  speculating  further  on  the  subject. 

The  truth  is,  office  seeking  and  office  seekers  came 
very  near  putting  a  period  to  my  public  career.  What¬ 
ever  else  developed  found  its  opportunity  in  the  weakened 
walls  of  a  constitution  that  had  long  withstood  fierce  at¬ 
tacks.  I  turned  the  corner  to  the  stage  of  enforced  care¬ 
taking  almost  in  a  day.  And  this  must  be  hereafter  the 
condition  on  which  will  depend  my  health  and  life.  An¬ 
other  phase  of  the  situation  cannot  be  spoken  of  with 
certainty  but  I  believe  the  chances  in  my  favor  are  at 
least  even. 

I  have  learned  how  weak  the  strongest  man  is  under 
God’s  decrees  and  I  see  in  a  new  light  the  necessity  of 
doing  my  allotted  work  in  the  full  apprehension  of  the 
coming  night. 

You  must  understand  that  I  am  regarded  here  as  a 
perfectly  well  man  and  the  story  of  an  important  surgical 
operation  is  thoroughly  discredited. 

I  think  I  never  looked  better  and  I  am  much  stronger 
than  I  have  lately  been.  You  have  now  more  of  the  story 
than  any  one  else  outside  of  the  medical  circle. 

Mrs.  Cleveland  sends  love  to  you  and  Mrs.  Bayard 
and  with  mine  added  in  plenteous  degree  I  am 

Yours  very  sincerely 

Grover  Cleveland. 


Hon.  T.  F.  Bayard. 


42 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Meanwhile,  free  silver  Senators  were  exhausting 
every  known  parliamentary  device  to  prevent  action. 
The  entire  machinery  of  obstruction,  which  in  the  hands 
of  a  skillful  and  determined  minority  has  proved  fatal 
to  so  many  worthy  measures,  was  called  into  play.  With 
equal  skill,  and  backed  by  the  consciousness  of  a  stronger 
following,  sound  money  Senators  worked  for  a  speedy 
trial  of  strength,  and  John  Sherman  worked  with  the 
President’s  friends. 

In  a  spirit  of  compromise,  Sherman  had  given  his 
name  to  the  Sherman  Bill,  in  order  to  prevent  the  enact¬ 
ment  of  a  more  extreme  free  silver  law,  and  he  was  as 
eager  as  was  the  President  himself  to  see  it  repealed.  In 
this,  as  in  many  previous  currency  conflicts,  he  merited 
the  praise  which  Mr.  Cleveland  bestowed  upon  him: 
“No  man  in  public  life,  certainly  no  Republican,  has 
rendered  a  greater  service  to  sound  finance  than  John 
Sherman.” 

These  weeks  of  steady  conflict  and  ceaseless  anxiety 
told  heavily  upon  the  impaired  vitality  of  the  President. 
His  letters  breathe  the  spirit  almost  of  despair,  but  in 
them  one  looks  in  vain  for  the  slightest  sign  of  surrender. 
“I  know  there  is  a  God,”  he  wrote  to  Richard  Watson 
Gilder,  on  October  12th,  “but  I  do  not  know  his  purposes, 
nor  when  their  results  will  appear.  I  know  the  clouds 
will  roll  away,  but  I  do  not  know  who,  before  that  time, 
will  be  drowned  in  their  floods.”  And  to  L.  Clarke 
Davis,  two  days  later,  he  said:  “I  am  growing  very  tired 
physically  and  if  I  did  not  believe  in  God  I  should  be 
sick  at  heart. 

“I  wonder  if  the  good  people  of  the  Country  will  see 
before  it  is  too  late  the  danger  that  threatens,  not  only 
their  financial  well-being,  but  the  very  foundations  upon 
which  their  institutions  rest. 


THE  FIRST  BATTLE  WITH  BRYAN  43 

“I  suppose  it  is  wrong,  but  sometimes  I  feel  very  de¬ 
spondent  and  very  much  deserted.  I  believe  in  the  peo¬ 
ple  so  fully,  and  things  are  often  so  forlorn  here,  that  I 
want  to  feel  and  hear  my  fellow  Countrymen  all  the 
time.  Are  they  still  about  me?  I  think  so  often  of  Mar¬ 
tin  Luther’s  ‘Here  I  stand — God  help  me.’  ” 

Two  weeks  later,  Ambassador  Bayard  wrote  to  Fred¬ 
eric  Emory:  “Assuming  that  the  miserable  makeshift  of 
Sherman  shall  be  wiped  out,  it  seems  to  me  there  could 
be  no  better  time  than  now  to  recall  the  words  of  James 
Russell  Lowell,  addressed  to  President  Cleveland  in  his 
oration  at  the  250th  anniversary  of  Harvard,  in  Cam¬ 
bridge: — The  pilot  of  Seneca,  ‘Oh!  Neptune,  you  may 
sink  me,  you  may  save  me,  but  I  will  hold  my  rudder 
true.’ 

“Were  I  a  painter,  I  should  depict  the  scene  of  con¬ 
fusion,  insubordination,  and  selfishness  on  deck,  and  the 
calm,  steadfast  pilot  at  the  helm  with  his  eye  on  the  pole 
star,  keeping  the  ship  in  her  unswerving  course.” 

Fortunately  victory  came  before  the  President’s  de¬ 
pleted  vitality  had  collapsed  under  the  strain  of  keeping 
his  rudder  true.  On  October  30th,  repeal  in  the  form 
of  a  Senate  substitute  for  the  House  bill  passed  the  Sen¬ 
ate  by  43  to  32,  23  Republicans  voting  yea.  Two  days 
later,  by  194  to  94,  the  House  accepted  the  Senate  bill, 
and  Mr.  Cleveland  had  won  a  truce  over  the  increasing 
hosts  of  free  silver. 

In  the  Atlantic  Monthly  of  March,  1897,  Woodrow 
Wilson,  then  Professor  of  Jurisprudence  in  Princeton 
University,  thus  interpreted  the  meaning  of  this  Cleve¬ 
land  victory: 

“It  was  the  President’s  victory  that  the  law  was  at 
last  repealed,  and  everyone  knew  it.  He  had  forced  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


44 

consideration  of  the  question;  he  had  told  Senators 
plainly,  almost  passionately,  when  they  approached  him, 
that  he  would  accept  no  compromise, — that  he  would 
veto  anything  less  than  absolute  repeal,  and  let  them  face 
the  country  as  best  they  might  afterwards. 

“Until  he  came  on  the  stage,  both  parties  had  dallied 
and  coquetted  with  the  advocates  of  silver.  Now  he  had 
brought  both  to  a  parting  of  the  ways.  The  silver  men 
were  forced  to  separate  themselves  and  look  their  situa¬ 
tion  in  the  face,  choose  which  party  they  should  plan  to 
bring  under  their  will  and  policy,  if  they  could,  and  no 
longer  camp  in  the  tents  of  both. 

“Such  a  stroke  settled  what  the  course  of  Congres¬ 
sional  politics  should  be  throughout  the  four  years  of 
Mr.  Cleveland’s  term,  and  made  it  certain  that  at  the  end 
of  that  term  he  should  either  have  won  his  party  to  him¬ 
self  or  lost  it  altogether.  It  was  evident  that  any  party 
that  rejected  the  gold  standard  for  the  currency  must  look 
upon  him  as  its  opponent.” 

From  the  point  of  view  of  the  peace  and  effectiveness 
of  the  new  administration,  it  was  a  costly  victory.  The 
necessities  of  the  conflict  had  forced  the  President  to  cut 
across  his  own  party  and  its  Republican  opponent,  form¬ 
ing  thereby  a  temporary  coalition,  dangerous  alike  to 
party  discipline  and  party  solidarity.  He  had,  further¬ 
more,  admitted  by  his  actions  that  the  Republicans  were 
nearer  to  soundness  upon  the  great  question  of  the  hour 
than  were  the  representatives  of  his  own  party.  And 
by  these  actions  he  had  won  the  bitter  and  lasting  resent¬ 
ment  of  a  vast  body  of  Democrats  who  now  denied,  not 
only  that  Grover  Cleveland  was  a  Democrat,  but  even 
that  he  was  an  honest  man,  and  who  henceforth  dedicated 
themselves  to  the  task  of  reading  him  out  of  the  party. 


CHAPTER  II 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII 

“I  mistake  the  American  people  if  they  favor  the  odious 
doctrine  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  international  morality; 
that  there  is  one  law  for  a  strong  nation  and  another  for  a 
weak  one  ." 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

FEW  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  public  actions  have  been  more 
bitterly  denounced,  more  needlessly  misunderstood, 
or  more  deliberately  misrepresented,  than  was  his  attitude 
toward  the  Hawaiian  situation.  Yet  in  refusing  to  con¬ 
nive  at  the  annexation  of  Hawaii  by  methods  sanctified 
by  long  usage,  he  but  sounded,  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  note  which  is  the  hope  of  the  twentieth,  the  right  of 
men  everywhere  “to  choose  their  own  ways  of  life  and  of 
obedience.”  As  in  the  case  of  Germany  and  Samoa,  he 
had  uncompromisingly  opposed  a  powerful  nation  in  the 
interests  of  a  helpless  one,  so  in  the  case  of  the  United 
States  and  Hawaii  he  took  a  ground  no  less  just  and  im¬ 
partial,  although  this  time  the  aggressor  was  his  own 
nation. 

It  would  have  been  easy,  had  he  been  fitted  with  a  less 
exacting  conscience,  for  President  Cleveland  to  allow  the 
process  of  Hawaiian  annexation  to  go  smoothly  on  to  its 
culmination.  Instead,  however,  he  invited  conflict,  which 
he  hated,  solely  in  the  interest  of  international  justice, 
solely  that  another  weak  and  defenseless  people  might 
remain  free.  It  was  not  annexation  that  he  opposed,  but 
conquest  disguised  as  annexation. 

45 


46 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


From  the  beginning  of  our  contact  with  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  many  Americans  had  felt  that  control  by  the 
United  States,  perhaps  annexation,  was  inevitable.  But 
until  the  days  of  President  Harrison,  the  actions  of  Amer¬ 
ican  statesmen  were  in  the  main  considerate  of  the  sov¬ 
ereign  rights  of  the  Hawaiian  people.  In  1851  a 
menacing  move  on  the  part  of  France  caused  King 
Kamehameha  III.  to  deliver  to  Mr.  Severance,  American 
Commissioner  in  Honolulu,  an  executed  deed  of  gift, 
granting  the  islands  in  full  sovereignty  to  the  United 
States,  and  requesting  him  to  take  possession  as  soon  as  it 
should  become  evident  that  the  king  could  not  resist  the 
French  encroachments. 

Instead  of  taking  advantage  of  this  situation  to  estab¬ 
lish  an  American  control  over  the  islands,  as  he  might 
easily  have  done,  our  Secretary  of  State,  Daniel  Webster, 
to  the  credit  of  the  nation,  directed  that  the  deed  be  re¬ 
turned  to  the  Hawaiian  government,  and  notified  France 
that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  United  States  to  keep  her 
“naval  armament  ...  in  the  Pacific  Ocean  in  such  a 
state  of  strength  and  preparation  as  shall  be  requisite 
for  the  preservation  of  the  honor  and  dignity  of  the 
United  States  and  the  safety  of  the  government  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.” 

In  1854  President  Pierce’s  Secretary  of  State,  Wil¬ 
liam  L.  Marcy,  marred  this  record  by  negotiating  a  treaty 
providing  for  the  annexation  of  the  islands,  but  the  death 
of  the  Hawaiian  king  upset  the  scheme,  and  Hawaii  was 
still  free. 

Meanwhile,  commercial  connections  between  the  two 
countries  grew  rapidly.  American  merchants  and 
planters  immigrated  in  considerable  numbers,  and,  in 
1875,  the  United  States  and  Hawaii  entered  into  a  treaty 
of  commercial  reciprocity.  In  this  treaty  appeared  no 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  47 

menace  to  Hawaiian  independence,  save  the  provision 
which  bound  her  not  to  alienate  any  of  her  territory  to 
nations  other  than  the  United  States.  In  1884  a  supple¬ 
mentary  convention  was  negotiated  by  which  Pearl  Har¬ 
bor  was  set  aside  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  United  States 
and  her  commerce. 

Owing  to  delay  in  ratification,  this  supplementary 
convention  was  still  pending  when  Mr.  Cleveland  first 
became  President;  and,  after  carefully  studying  its  pro¬ 
visions,  he  strongly  advised  the  Senate  to  approve  it. 

“I  express  my  unhesitating  conviction,”  he  declared 
in  his  second  annual  message,  “that  the  intimacy  of  our 
relations  with  Hawaii  should  be  emphasized.  As  a  result 
of  the  reciprocity  treaty  of  1875,  those  islands,  on  the 
highway  of  Oriental  and  Australasian  traffic,  are  vir¬ 
tually  an  outpost  of  American  commerce  and  a  stepping- 
stone  to  the  growing  trade  of  the  Pacific.  The  Polynesian 
island  groups  have  been  so  absorbed  by  other  and  more 
powerful  governments  that  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are  left 
almost  alone  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  autonomy,  which 
it  is  important  for  us,  should  be  preserved.  Our  treaty 
is  now  terminable  on  one  year’s  notice,  but  propositions 
to  abrogate  it  would  be,  in  my  judgment,  most  ill-advised. 
The  paramount  influence  we  have  there  acquired,  once 
relinquished,  could  only  with  difficulty  be  regained,  and 
a  valuable  ground  of  vantage  for  ourselves  might  be  con¬ 
verted  into  a  stronghold  for  our  commercial  competitors. 
I  earnestly  recommend  that  the  existing  treaty  stipula¬ 
tions  be  extended  to  a  further  term  of  seven  years.” 

The  treaty  was  proclaimed  on  November  9,  1887,  and 
in  the  meantime  the  Bayonet  revolution  in  Hawaii  had 
forced  the  Hawaiian  king  to  consent  to  a  liberal  consti¬ 
tution,  enfranchising  his  numerous  Western  guests  and 
making  of  himself  a  limited  monarch.  The  character 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


48 

of  this  constitution  was  clearly  the  work  of  American 
minds,  and  is  evidence  that  the  Republic  of  the  West  was 
rapidly  coming  into  control  in  Hawaii  in  the  persons 
of  men  bred  to  American  law  and  American  ideals  of 
government. 

And  so,  when  President  Cleveland  retired  from  office 
in  1889,  although  the  sovereignty  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  was  unimpaired,  and  her  form  of  government 
entitled  her  to  be  called  a  constitutional  monarchy,  the 
process  of  peaceful  penetration  was  well  advanced,  and 
it  was  evident  to  all  men  trained  in  the  arts  of  imperial¬ 
istic  expansion  that  the  days  of  Hawaiian  independence 
were  numbered. 

Had  the  annexationists  exercised  patience,  and  re¬ 
spected  the  sovereign  rights  of  the  Hawaiian  people, 
they  might  have  reached  their  goal  without  the  opposi¬ 
tion  which  Grover  Cleveland  later  accorded  them.  He 
saw  no  crime  in  annexation,  should  it  come  to  be  the 
free  choice  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands,  and  while  he 
perhaps  never  definitely  approved,  there  is  no  indication 
that  he  ever  disapproved  the  views  of  his  Secretary  of 
State,  Thomas  F.  Bayard,  who  later  declared:  “The 
obvious  course  was  to  wait  quietly  and  patiently,  and  let 
the  islands  fill  up  with  American  planters  and  American 
industries,  until  they  should  be  wholly  identified  in  busi¬ 
ness  interests  and  political  sympathies  with  the  United 
States.  It  was  simply  a  matter  of  waiting  until  the  apple 
should  ripen  and  fall.” 

Unfortunately,  the  administration  which  superseded 
Mr.  Cleveland  had  not  Mr.  Cleveland’s  patience,  and  it 
was  not  long  before  our  Minister  to  Hawaii,  John  S. 
Stevens,  began  consciously  working  by  political  means  in 
the  direction  of  the  annexation  of  the  country  to  which  he 
was  accredited,  while  the  American  Secretary  of  State 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  49 

failed  to  rebuke,  if  he  did  not  actually  encourage,  this 
ambition.  “The  near  future,”  Minister  Stevens  wrote  to 
Secretary  Blaine,  on  March  20,  1890,  “is  to  show  conclu¬ 
sively  that  only  the  strong  pressure  and  continual  vigi¬ 
lance  of  the  United  States  can  enable  American  men  and 
American  ideas  to  hold  ascendency  here  and  make  these 
islands  as  prosperous  and  valuable  to  American  com¬ 
merce  and  to  American  marine  supremacy  in  the  north 
Pacific  as  the  isles  of  the  Mediterranean  have  been  and 
are  to  its  adjacent  nations.”  Eagerly  Stevens  awaited  the 
psychological  moment  for  a  brilliant  stroke  which  would 
land  the  islands  in  the  lap  of  his  own  country — waited, 
worked,  and  planned. 

In  1891,  King  Kalakua  died  while  on  a  visit  to  the 
United  States,  and  his  sister,  the  Princess  Liliuokalani, 
ascended  the  throne  by  virtue  of  the  twenty-second  article 
of  the  Hawaiian  Constitution  of  1887.  The  new  queen, 
imbued,  as  had  been  her  late  brother,  with  autocratic 
theories  and  possessed  of  a  despotic  temperament,  was 
out  of  harmony  with  the  liberal  tendencies  clearly  mani¬ 
fest  in  her  kingdom  and  specifically  embodied  in  the  con¬ 
stitution  under  which  she  reigned,  and  which  she  had 
sworn  to  defend. 

This  constitution  was  too  modern  for  Queen  Liliu¬ 
okalani,  who  hated  the  white  intruders,  hated  the  mis¬ 
sionaries,  hated  all  the  paraphernalia  of  what  the  West 
had  labeled  progress,  and  dreamed  of  reaction  to  the 
dark  old  ways  of  primitive  autocracy.  What  she  and  her 
reactionary  advisers  longed  for,  was  to  be  freed  from  the 
shackles  of  the  constitution  theory.  This  done,  it  would 
be  easy  to  drive  out  the  white  man,  confiscate  his  prop¬ 
erty,  if  necessary  take  his  life. 

Within  a  month  after  her  accession,  the  ill-advised 
queen  attempted  to  force  the  resignation  of  her  ministers, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


50 

and  to  select  a  cabinet  composed  of  her  tools.  The  opium 
ring,  the  lottery  ring,  and  other  parasites  that  flourish 
best  upon  autocracy,  were  pressing  upon  her  plans,  which 
they  knew  would  have  scant  shrift  should  the  American 
element  gain  control,  and  she  was  readily  countenancing 
their  advances,  conscious  that  she  needed  their  sup¬ 
port  in  her  contemplated  return  to  the  ways  of  earlier 
times.  On  January  14,  1893,  professing  to  act  under 
pressure  of  popular  demand,  she  declared  her  intention 
to  overthrow  the  constitution  which  had  enfranchised  the 
hated  foreigner,  and  to  substitute  another  more  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  her  temperament  and  aspirations.  But  Hawaii 
had  progressed  beyond  the  point  at  which  a  restoration  of 
autocracy  was  possible.  The  monarchy  was  a  shell,  ready 
to  crumble  at  a  touch  of  opposition,  and  the  Queen’s 
action  was  at  once  interpreted  by  Stevens  and  the  small 
but  powerful  minority  of  annexationists  as  abdication, 
an  interpretation  based  on  ideas  purely  Western. 

As  soon  as  Liliuokalani  understood  the  interpretation 
put  upon  her  autocratic  threat  by  her  dangerous  guest- 
citizens  and  their  fellow  disciples  of  Western  law,  she 
issued  a  recantation.  But  it  was  already  too  late.  A  com¬ 
mittee  of  safety  had  been  organized,  and  plans  had  been 
made  for  arming  those  who  resented  her  disloyalty  to 
the  Constitution.  It  was  revolution,  and  the  days  of 
Hawaiian  royalty  were  over. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  Minister  Stevens  was  not 
in  Honolulu  when  the  revolution  broke.  On  January  4, 
1893,  he  had  sailed  on  the  Boston  for  a  cruise  to  Hilo,  a 
hundred  miles  away.  It  is  still  more  interesting  to  dis¬ 
cover  that  he  returned  just  as  the  revolution  needed  the 
support  of  American  marines,  and  that,  ten  months  before, 
he  had  written  to  Secretary  Blaine:  “I  have  little  doubt 
the  revolutionary  attempt  would  have  been  made  ere  this 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  5 1 

but  for  the  presence  here  of  the  United  States  ship-of- 
war.  I  still  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  revolutionary 
attempt  will  not  be  made  so  long  as  there  is  a  United 
States  force  in  the  harbor  of  Honolulu.” 

As  soon  as  the  Boston ,  with  the  American  Minister 
on  board,  re-entered  the  harbor,  Mr.  Stevens  was  asked 
by  the  leaders  of  the  revolution  to  land  the  marines,  and 
he  at  once  complied.  Admiral  Skerrett  later  commented 
that:  “the  American  troops  were  well  located  if  designed 
to  promote  the  movement  for  the  Provisional  Govern¬ 
ment,  and  very  improperly  located  if  only  intended  to 
protect  American  citizens  in  person  and  property.” 

The  revolution  moved  rapidly.  Before  the  close  of 
the  seventeenth  of  January,  the  monarchy  was  declared 
at  an  end,  Stevens  had  recognized  the  Provisional  Gov¬ 
ernment,  and  the  latter  had  assumed  full  control  “until 
such  time  as  terms  of  union  with  the  United  States,  of 
America  should  have  been  agreed  on.  Two  weeks  later, 
at  the  request  of  President  Dole  of  the  Provisional  Gov¬ 
ernment,  Stevens  raised  the  American  flag  over  the  gov¬ 
ernment  buildings,  and  thus  established  a  protectorate 
pending  annexation. 

These  facts  furnish  an  excellent  basis  for  what  the 
theologians  term  “argument  from  design.”  They  tally 
also  with  the  defense  which  Murat  Halstead  later  made 
of  Stevens:  “He  was  an  American  himself,  with  a  par¬ 
tiality  for  white  folks,  and,  we  presume,  had  the  com¬ 
mon  American  sentiment  that  the  islands  belonged  to  us, 
and  our  title  would  be  perfected  some  day,”  and  Stevens’ 
own  dispatches,  both  the  published  and  the  unpublished, 
make  it  quite  clear  that  he  gloried  in  the  belief  that 
manifest  destiny  had  thus  marked  Hawaii  as  American 
property. 

Meanwhile  the  Provisional  Government  had  dis- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


52 

patched  five  commissioners,  four  Americans  and  one 
Englishman,  to  request  President  Jdarrison  to  annex  the 
islands  of  the  Hawaiians  to  the  United  States.  They  were 
received,  on  February  4th,  by  Secretary  of  State  Foster, 
and  eleven  days  later  Harrison  sent  to  the  United  States 
Senate  a  treaty  providing  that:  “the  government  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  hereby  cedes  .  .  .  absolutely  and  with¬ 
out  reservation  to  the  United  States  forever  all  rights  of 
sovereignty  of  whatever  kind  in  and  over  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  and  their  dependencies.’’  The  document  bore 
six  signatures — John  W.  Foster,  Lorin  A.  Thurston, 
William  R.  Castle,  William  C.  Wilder,  Charles  L.  Car¬ 
ter,  and  Joseph  Marsden.  There  was  not  one  Polynesian 
name  on  the  list. 

In  his  accompanying  message  President  Harrison  in¬ 
formed  the  Senate  that  “the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy 
was  not  in  any  way  promoted  by  this  Government,”  and 
this  President  Harrison  unquestionably  believed,  having 
been  so  informed  by  the  promoters  of  “Manifest  Des¬ 
tiny,”  that  ancient  altar  piece  which  the  annexationists 
were  employing  to  give  sanctity  to  their  plans  and  value 
to  their  plantations. 

As  President  Harrison’s  term  was  drawing  toward 
its  close,  friend  and  foe  of  the  pending  annexation  treaty 
began  to  speculate  what  would  be  the  policy  of  the  re¬ 
turning  President,  Grover  Cleveland.  But  the  latter, 
while  watching  carefully  the  progress  of  the  annexation 
movement,  scrupulously  avoided  any  expression  of  opin¬ 
ion  upon  the  subject  until  the  responsibility  should  again 
become  his. 

In  the  absence  of  facts,  the  newspapers,  of  course, 
published  fiction.  The  day  before  the  inauguration,  the 
Omaha  Bee  confidently  assured  its  readers,  upon  the  basis 
of  that  most  untrustworthy  witness,  “good  authority,” 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  53 

that  Mr.  Cleveland  could  be  counted  upon  “to  promote 
as  far  as  possible  the  ‘Manifest  Destiny’  doctrine  which 
contemplates  the  ultimate  extension  of  the  United  States 
over  the  entire  North  American  continent  and  the  absorp¬ 
tion  of  whatever  ‘outposts’  it  may  be  found  expedient  or 
desirable  to  possess.” 

This  illusion  was  soon  dispelled  by  the  new  Presi¬ 
dent.  Within  a  week  after  his  inauguration,  he  sent  to* 
the  Senate  a  curt  message  of  five  lines :  “For  the  purpose 
of  re-examination  I  withdraw  the  treaty  of  annexation 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Provisional  Govern¬ 
ment  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  now  pending  in  the  Senate, 
which  was  signed  on  February  14,  1893,  and  transmitted 
to  the  Senate  on  the  15th  of  the  same  month;  and  I  there¬ 
fore  request  that  said  treaty  be  returned  to  me.  Grover 
Cleveland.” 

He  was  not  content  that  Hawaii  should  be  annexed 
upon  the  mere  assurance  of  annexationists  that  “the  over¬ 
throw  of  the  monarchy  was  not  in  any  way  promoted  by 
this  Government.”  Beneath  the  insistent  demand  for 
immediate  annexation,  in  order  that  there  might  be,  as 
Harrison  had  expressed  it,  “decent  administration  of 
civil  affairs,”  might  lurk  the  ancient  Anglo-Saxon  thirst 
for  empire.  Perhaps  in  Hawaii  his  own  nation  had  been 
guilty  of  the  very  sin  which  he  was  seeking  to  prevent 
the  German  Imperial  Chancellor  from  committing  in  the 
Samoan  Islands — the  ruthless  subversion  of  a  weak  and 
helpless  nation. 

As  he  studied  the  documents  in  the  State  Department 
he  became  increasingly  suspicious.  To  annex  the  islands 
in  response  to  the  free  will  of  their  population  would  be 
entirely  justifiable,  but  to  annex  them  in  response  to  the 
desire  of  American  officials  would  be  something  quite  dif¬ 
ferent.  What  he  had  learned  of  the  history  of  Hawaii’s 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


54 

recent  past  inclined  him  to  give  ear  to  an  appeal  lately 
received  from  the  dethroned  queen  herself,  a  passionate 
appeal  for  justice,  based  upon  the  contention  that  the 
revolution  had  been  planned  and  carried  out  by  Ameri¬ 
cans,  chief  among  whom  was  the  American  Minister: 

To  His  Excellency 
Grover  Cleveland 
President  Elect  of  the 
United  States. 

My  great  and  good  friend: 

In  the  vicissitudes  which  happened  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  and  which  affect  my  people,  myself  and  my  house 
so  seriously,  I  feel  comforted  the  more  that  beside  the 
friendly  relations  of  the  United  States,  I  have  the  boon  of 
Your  personal  friendship  and  good  will. 

The  changes  which  occurred  here  need  not  be  stated 
in  this  letter.  You  will  have,  at  the  time  at  which  it 
reaches  You  the  official  information,  but  I  have  instructed 
the  Hon.  Paul  Neuman  whom  I  have  appointed  my 
representative  at  Washington,  to  submit  to  You  a  precis 
of  the  facts  and  circumstances  relating  to  the  revolution 
in  Honolulu,  and  to  supplement  it  by  such  statements 
which  you  may  please  to  elicit. 

I  beg  that  You  will  consider  this  matter  in  which 
there  is  so  much  involved  for  my  people,  and  that  you 
give  us  your  friendly  assistance  in  granting  redress  for 
a  wrong  which  we  claim  has  been  done  to  us  under  color 
of  the  assistance  of  the  naval  forces  of  the  United  States 
in  a  friendly  port. 

Believe  me  that  I  do  not  veil  under  this  a  request  to 
You  the  fulfillment  of  which  could  in  the  slightest  degree 
be  contrary  to  Your  position,  and  I  leave  our  grievance 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  55 

in  Your  hands  confident  that  in  so  far  as  you  deem  it 
proper  we  shall  have  Your  sympathy  and  Your  aid. 

I  am  Your  good  friend 

Liliuokalani. 

Looking  only  upon  the  surface,  it  seemed  reasonable  to 
accept  the  vociferous  assurances  of  the  annexationists  that 
Stevens  had  landed  the  marines  only  for  the  entirely 
legal  and  proper  task  of  protecting  American  lives  and 
American  property.  But  in  his  study  of  the  documents, 
Mr.  Cleveland  soon  became  convinced  that  Stevens  had 
deliberately  furthered  the  revolution  in  order  the  sooner 
to  make  Hawaii  American  territory.  “To  a  minister  of 
this  temper,  full  of  zeal  for  annexation,”  he  later  in¬ 
formed  Congress,  “there  seemed  to  arise  in  January,  1893, 
the  precise  opportunity  for  which  he  was  watchfully 
waiting  .  .  .  and  we  are  quite  prepared  for  the  exultant 
enthusiasm  with  which,  in  a  letter  to  the  State  Depart¬ 
ment  dated  February  1,  1893,  he  declares :  ‘The  Hawaiian 
pear  is  now  fully  ripe,  and  this  is  the  golden  hour  for 
the  United  States  to  pluck  it.’  ” 

Having  withdrawn  the  treaty  from  the  Senate,  Presi¬ 
dent  Cleveland  next  sent  the  Honorable  James  H.  Blount, 
recently  Chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  Foreign 
Affairs,  as  his  special  personal  agent  to  Hawaii  to  dis¬ 
cover  the  facts.  In  his  testimony  before  the  Senate  Com¬ 
mittee  at  a  later  date,  Blount  made  under  oath  the  state¬ 
ment  that  President  Cleveland  never  gave  him  the  least 
intimation  as  to  what  his  own  views  regarding  the  situa¬ 
tion  in  Hawaii  were.  “I  was  impressed,”  he  said,  “with 
the  belief  that  he  wanted  information.” 

Pending  Blount’s  report,  the  President  of  course  re¬ 
ceived  information  from  Minister  Stevens,  whose  new 
dispatches  presented  the  history  of  the  revolution  in  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


56 

most  favorable  light,  and  made  it  quite  clear  that  the 
landing  of  troops,  in  Stevens’s  opinion,  had  insured  its 
final  success. 

“The  supporters  of  the  Provisional  Government,”  he 
wrote,  on  April  4,  1893,  “having  had  little  or  no  military 
experience,  an  organized  military  force  could  not  be 
created  at  once.  Time  was  absolutely  necessary.  The 
presence  of  the  few  United  States  soldiers  with  their 
country’s  flag  was  of  incalculable  importance  to  the  only 
existing  and  the  only  possible  government  for  Hawaii. 
When  the  men  of  the  Boston  went  to  their  ship  April  1st, 
the  Provisional  Government  had  at  its  command  a  mili¬ 
tary  force  of  four  hundred  men, — the  most  effective  ever 
known  in  the  islands,  and  an  organized  police  with  a 
tried  and  efficient  man  at  the  head.  The  remarkable 
change  accomplished  in  seventy-five  days  had  been  with¬ 
out  the  loss  of  life  or  the  destruction  of  property.  Had 
the  United  States  Minister  and  the  Naval  Commander 
not  acted  as  they  did,  they  would  have  deserved  prompt 
removal  from  their  places  and  the  just  censure  of  the 
friends  of  humanity  and  of  civilization.” 

Thus  Stevens’s  own  dispatches  justified  the  President’s 
uneasy  suspicions.  But  when  Blount’s  report  of  July  17th 
reached  him,  it  changed  suspicion  into  a  sense  of  cer¬ 
tainty.  After  studying  it  and  numerous  items  of  docu¬ 
mentary  evidence  furnished  by  his  personal  agent,  Mr. 
Cleveland  reached  a  definite  conclusion.  Stevens  'and 
certain  American  associates  were  the  real  authors  of  the 
Hawaiian  revolution,  made  with  the  express  purpose  of 
annexation.  “Mr.  Stevens,”  Blount  boldly  declared, 
“consulted  freely  with  the  leaders  of  the  revolutionary 
movement  from  the  evening  of  the  14th.  These  disclosed 
to  him  all  their  plans.  They  feared  arrest  and  punish¬ 
ment.  He  promised  them  protection.  They  needed  the 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  57 

troops  on  shore  to  overawe  the  Queen’s  supporters  and 
government.  This  he  agreed  to  and  did  furnish.  .  .  . 
The  leaders  of  the  revolutionary  movement  would  not 
have  undertaken  it  but  for  Mr.  Stevens’s  promise  to  pro¬ 
tect  them  against  any  danger  from  the  government.  .  .  . 
But  for  this  no  request  to  land  troops  would  have  been 
made.  Had  the  troops  not  been  landed  no  measures  for 
the  organization  of  a  new  government  would  have  been 
taken. 

“The  American  Minister  and  the  revolutionary 
leaders  had  determined  on  a  new  addition  to  the  United 
States  and  had  agreed  on  the  part  each  was  to  act  to  the 
very  end.” 

Blount’s  report  made  it  further  evident  that  the  revo¬ 
lution  rested  little  upon  the  wishes  of  the  native 
H  awaiians.  “If  the  votes  of  persons  claiming  allegiance 
to  foreign  countries  were  excluded,”  he  confidently  in¬ 
formed  Mr.  Cleveland,  “it  (annexation)  would  be  de¬ 
feated  by  more  than  five  to  one.”  And  this  view  was 
independently  confirmed  by  Charles  Nordhoff,  a  veteran 
Washington  correspondent,  whom  the  New  York  Herald 
sent  to  Honolulu  to  check  up  Blount’s  statements  and 
report  to  the  American  people,  and  whom  the  Provi¬ 
sional  Government  vainly  tried  to  silence. 

“No  one  unprejudiced,”  declared  the  New  York 
Herald’s  leading  editorial  of  November  22,  1893,  Ucan 
read  Mr.  Blount’s  report  without  the  conviction  that  it 
goes  into  the  archives  of  the  State  Department  at  Wash¬ 
ington  as  the  darkest  chapter  in  the  diplomatic  annals  of 
this  country.” 

The  New  York  Times  declared,  editorially,  that  it 
“reveals  a  conspiracy  .  .  .  which  if  not  repudiated  by 
this  nation,  would  sully  the  honor  and  blacken  the  fair 
name  of  the  United  States.” 


58 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


“The  people  of  this  country,”  said  the  Savannah 
Morning  News ,  “if  they  accept  Mr.  Blount’s  report, 
cannot  do  otherwise  than  sustain  the  position  taken  by 
the  President  and  his  Cabinet.  The  only  way  to  create  a 
sentiment  against  that  position  is  to  show  that  Mr. 
Blount’s  report  is  not  correct.” 

This  suggestion  the  annexationists  promptly  adopted. 
Blount  was  accused  of  working  for  a  verdict  against  the 
white  “crusaders  of  Democracy,”  and  in  favor  of  “the 
lady  who  looks  like  the  inside  of  a  package  of  Arbuckle’s 
coffee”;  he  had  seen  only  the  queen’s  friends;  he  was 
the  man  who  had  hauled  down  the  American  flag.  But 
Blount’s  work  had  been  conscientiously  and  intelligently 
done,  his  facts  were  in  the  main  identical  with  those 
presented  by  Nordhoff  and  other  disinterested  spectators, 
and  the  attempts  of  the  annexationists  to  prove  the  con¬ 
trary  met  with  little  success. 

The  Cleveland  press  challenged  Stevens  or  ex-Presi- 
dent  Harrison,  or  any  one  else  to  point  to  a  statement  in 
the  report  which  was  not  true.  “Mr.  Stevens,”  declared 
the  Chicago  Herald ,  “was  asked  to  show  wherein  Mr. 
Blount  has  misstated  facts.  Mr.  Stevens  had  a  peremp¬ 
tory  engagement  out  of  town  for  several  days.  .  .  .  Ex- 
President  Harrison  was  also  invited  to  show  that  Blount 
erred  in  any  statement  of  fact.  The  ex-President  diplo¬ 
matically  avoided  the  issue.” 

A  few  days  later,  however,  Stevens  sent  forth  from 
his  retreat  in  Maine  an  elaborate  reply  to  Blount’s  report; 
and  the  Hawaiian  Minister,  Lorin  A.  Thurston,  in  col¬ 
umns  of  argument,  denounced  what  he  termed  Blount’s 
“gross  inaccuracies.”  But  Stevens  was  now  in  the  posi¬ 
tion  of  a  deposed  official,  and  Thurston  was  regarded  as 
merely  a  special  pleader  paid  for  the  work. 

The  New  York  Tribune ,  in  its  issue  of  November  22, 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  59 

1 893,  ventured  upon  a  psychological  argument  designed 
to  discredit  Mr.  Cleveland’s  policy.  “The  secret  springs 
or  motives  are  out  of  sight,  hidden  in  personal  relations,” 
it  impressively  declared,  “.  .  .  In  this,  as  in  a  great  many 
other  things,  the  unwritten,  personal  factor  is  potential. 
It  is  easily  stated.  The  present  Secretary  of  State  (Mr. 
Gresham)  has  been  for  many  years  the  personal  enemy 
of  ex-President  Harrison,  as  he  was  also  of  the  late  Sec¬ 
retary  Blaine.  .  .  .  Minister  Stevens  was  an  intimate  per¬ 
sonal  friend  of  Mr.  Blaine.  He  was  an  appointee  of 
President  Harrison.  The  policy  he  pursued  in  Hawaii 
was  approved  by  the  Harrison  administration.” 

And  so  Grover  Cleveland  had  faced  his  own  nation 
and  thwarted  a  movement  which  strongly  appeals  always 
to  the  strain  of  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  in  order  that  Secre¬ 
tary  Gresham’s  personal  hatreds  might  be  avenged.  To 
such  strange  lengths  will  party  spirit  go,  even  in  great 
affairs.  And  this  is  one  of  the  dangers  of  democracies. 

With  little  attention  to  disputes  regarding  his  methods 
or  motives,  President  Cleveland  now  faced  the  difficult 
question  of  action.  One  thing  was  clear  to  his  mind: 
Whatever  the  cost,  he  must  see  justice  done  to  the  sov¬ 
ereignty  of  Hawaii. 

In  his  search  for  a  method  by  which  the  United  States 
could  undo  the  wrong  which  had  been  done  by  men 
serving  in  her  name,  the  President  suggested  that  Secre¬ 
tary  Gresham  ask  specific  advice  from  the  members  of 
the  Cabinet.  The  opinion  furnished  by  Attorney  Gen¬ 
eral  Richard  Olney  anticipates  in  essential  features  the 
plan  finally  adopted.  After  a  convincing  summary  of 
the  American  origin  of  what  he  terms  “the  Stevens  Gov¬ 
ernment,”  Mr.  Olney  suggested: 

“1.  All  the  resources  of  diplomacy  should  be  ex- 


6o 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


hausted  to  restore  the  status  quo  in  Hawaii  by  peaceful 
methods  and  without  force. 

“2.  If,  as  a  last  resort,  force  is  found  to  be  necessary 
.  .  .  the  matter  must  be  submitted  to  Congress  for  its 
action. 

“3.  In  addition  to  providing  for  the  security  of  the 
queen’s  person  pending  efforts  to  reinstate  the  queen’s 
government  .  .  .  the  United  States  should  require  of  the 
queen  .  .  .  authority  to  negotiate  and  bring  about  the 
restoration  of  her  government  on  such  reasonable  terms 
and  conditions  as  the  United  States  may  approve  and 
find  to  be  practicable. 

“Among  such  terms  and  conditions  must  be,  I  think, 
full  pardon  and  amnesty  for  all  connected  with  the 
Stevens  government  who  might  otherwise  be  liable  to  be 
visited  with  the  pains  and  penalties  attending  the  crime 
of  treason.” 

In  the  light  of  this  and  other  opinions,  Secretary 
Gresham  wrote  to  the  President  an  elaborate  summary  of 
the  case.  His  recommendations  were  less  specific  than 
Olney’s,  but  their  general  tenor  was  the  same.  And  he 
added  a  moral  interpretation  which  he  knew  would  strike 
a  responsive  chord  in  the  President’s  heart:  “Should 
not  the  great  wrong  done  to  a  feeble  but  independent  state 
by  an  abuse  of  the  authority  of  the  United  States  be 
undone  by  restoring  the  legitimate  government?  Any¬ 
thing  short  of  that  will  not,  I  respectfully  submit,  satisfy 
the  demands  of  justice.  .  .  .” 

A  consultation  followed  and  that  evening  Secretary 
Gresham  wrote  to  inform  the  new  Minister,  Albert  S. 
Willis,  of  the  President’s  decision,  and  to  give  confiden¬ 
tial  instructions  for  his  guidance: 

“You  will  .  .  .  inform  the  Queen  that,  when  rein¬ 
stated,  the  President  expects  that  she  will  pursue  a  mag- 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  6l 

nanimous  course  by  granting  full  amnesty  to  all  who 
participated  in  the  movement  against  her.  .  .  .  Having 
secured  the  Queen’s  agreement  .  .  .  you  will  then  advise 
the  Executive  of  the  Provisional  Government  and  his 
ministers  of  the  President’s  determination  of  the  ques¬ 
tion  .  .  .  and  they  are  expected  to  promptly  relinquish 
to  her  her  constitutional  authority.”  In  case  of  failure 
to  accomplish  a  peaceful  settlement  by  agreement,  Willis 
was  ordered  to  report  the  facts  and  await  further 
directions. 

From  this  and  many  subsequent  letters,  it  is  evident 
that  Mr.  Cleveland  had  no  idea  of  attempting  by  force 
to  restore  the  queen  of  Hawaii.  On  the  contrary,  on 
December  3d,  Secretary  Gresham  again  wrote  to  Willis: 
“Should  the  Queen  ask  whether  if  she  accedes  to  condi¬ 
tions,  active  steps  will  be  taken  by  the  United  States  to 
effect  her  restoration  or  to  maintain  her  authority  there¬ 
after,  you  will  say  that  the  President  cannot  use  force 
without  the  authority  of  Congress.”  And  Blount,  in  his 
sworn  testimony  before  the  Morgan  Committee,  later  de¬ 
clared:  “I  never  heard  it  [the  idea  of  a  restoration  by 
force]  suggested  until  my  return  to  the  United  States.” 

A  busy  press  had,  however,  already  managed  to  inter¬ 
pret  the  necessary  operations  of  the  navy  as  proof  that 
armed  intervention  in  favor  of  Liliuokalani  was  the 
President’s  program.  The  Newport,  R.  I.,  Herald  had 
informed  its  readers,  on  November  1 6th,  that  “it  is  said 
on  good  naval  authority  that  as  soon  as  the  United  States 
ships,  Ranger  and  Mohican  .  .  .  can  be  made  ready  for 
sea  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  will  order  their  comman¬ 
ders  to  proceed  direct  to  Honolulu.  .  .  .  The  combined 
crews  of  the  Ranger  and  Mohican  would  enable  the  land¬ 
ing  of  a  larger  marine  force  than  from  the  Philadelphia 
(already  there).” 


62 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Upon  the  basis  of  this  evidence  of  heroic  intent,  the 
enthusiastic  colored  citizens  of  Newport  met  and  dis¬ 
patched  to  the  President  a  letter  of  congratulation  that 
in  his  blow  for  justice  he  had  not  regarded  color,  nor  been 
prejudiced  by  the  fact  that  “the  sun  has  blared  heavily 
upon  the  dark  skin  Queen’s  ancestry.” 

As  it  chanced,  on  that  very  sixteenth  of  November, 
Minister  Willis  was  preparing  a  dispatch  containing  the 
discouraging  details  of  his  first  interview  with  the  de¬ 
throned  queen:  “In  the  forenoon  of  Monday  .  .  .  [No¬ 
vember  13th]  the  Queen,  accompanied  by  the  Royal 
Chamberlain  .  .  .  called  at  the  Legation.  .  .  .  After  a 
formal  greeting,  the  Queen  was  informed  that  the  Presi¬ 
dent  .  .  .  had  important  communications  to  make  to  her, 
and  she  was  asked  whether  she  was  willing  to  receive 
them  alone  and  in  confidence.  .  .  .  She  answered  in  the 
affirmative. 

“I  then  made  known  to  her  the  President’s  sincere 
regret  that  through  the  unauthorized  intervention  of  the 
United  States,  she  had  been  obliged  to  surrender  her  sov¬ 
ereignty,  and  his  hope  that  with  her  consent  and  co-opera¬ 
tion,  the  wrong  done  to  her  and  her  people  might  be 
redressed.  To  this  she  bowed  her  acknowledgment. 

“I  then  said  to  her:  ‘The  President  expects  and  be¬ 
lieves  that  when  reinstated  you  will  show  forgiveness  and 
magnanimity.’  .  .  .  To  this  she  made  no  reply. 

“After  waiting  a  moment,  I  continued:  ‘The  Presi¬ 
dent  not  only  tenders  you  his  sympathy  but  wishes  to  help 
you.  Before  fully  making  known  to  you  his  purposes,  I 
desire  to  know  whether  you  are  willing  to  answer  certain 
questions  which  it  is  my  duty  to  ask.’  She  answered:  ‘I 
am  willing.’  ” 

The  Minister  then  asked  whether,  if  restored  to  her 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  63 

throne,  she  would  grant  full  amnesty  to  those  concerned 
in  her  overthrow. 

“She  hesitated  for  a  moment  and  then  slowly  and 
calmly  answered:  ‘There  are  certain  laws  of  my  govern¬ 
ment  by  which  I  shall  abide.  My  decision  would  be,  as 
the  law  directs,  that  such  persons  should  be  beheaded  and 
their  property  confiscated.’  ” 

The  Minister,  dumbfounded  at  so  frank  a  statement, 
asked :  “Do  you  fully  understand  the  meaning  of  every 
word  which  I  have  said  to  you,  and  of  every  word  which 
you  have  said  to  me?”  The  queen  replied:  “I  have 
understood  and  mean  all  I  have  said.  .  .  .  These  people 
were  the  cause  of  the  revolution  and  Constitution  of  1887. 
There  will  never  be  any  peace  while  they  are  here.  .  .  .” 

Immediately  after  this  interview,  Willis  telegraphed 
to  Washington:  “Views  of  first  party  so  extreme  as  to 
require  further  instructions.” 

These  facts  were,  of  course,  not  made  public  and, 
with  the  newspaper  stories  of  a  projected  forcible  restora¬ 
tion  of  the  queen  in  mind,  the  President’s  annual  message 
was  eagerly  awaited.  When,  on  December  4,  1893,  it 
came,  it  was  disappointingly  lacking  in  dramatic  quality. 
Simply,  unimpassionedly,  Mr.  Cleveland  informed  Con¬ 
gress  that  he  was  conscientiously  seeking  “to  undo  the 
wrong  that  had  been  done  by  those  representing  us  and 
to  restore,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  status  existing  at  the 
time  of  our  forcible  intervention.”  More  than  that  he  was 
not  yet  ready  to  say. 

A  fortnight  later,  the  President  received  from  Willis 
a  list  of  perplexing  questions :  .  Assuming  the  resto¬ 

ration  of  the  Queen,  with  the  temporary  acquiescence  of 
the  Provisional  Government,  what  next?  If  left  to  itself 
it  would  fall  to  pieces  like  a  card  house.  Would  it  be 
just  to  restore  her  and  have  another  revolution  at  once — 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


64 

which  seems  probable?  If  restored,  would  she  not  be 
entitled  to  our  protection  until  she  was  securely  seated? 
How  long  would  this  require,  and  what  immediate  an¬ 
nouncement  (after  restoration)  if  any,  should  be  made? 

“Shall  our  Government  suggest  to  the  restored 
queen  (in  the  interest  of  peace  and  good  government) 
that  the  Constitution  of  1887  should  not  be  overturned 
except  as  therein  provided?  Shall  anything  be  said  about 
the  opium  license  law  and  lottery  law  which  have  been 
repealed  by  the  Provisional  Government  and  the  passage 
of  which  had  as  much  to  do  with  the  late  uprising  as  the 
threat  of  the  Queen  to  promulgate  a  new  Constitution? 

“In  restoring  the  status  ante  shall  men  like  Mr.  Dole 
be  put  back  on  the  Supreme  Bench?  Shall  vacancies  (as 
now  intimated)  be  declared  because  of  participation  in 
the  Queen’s  overthrow?  .  .  . 

“If  the  Queen  should,  while  under  our  quasi  protec¬ 
tion,  again  promulgate  a  new  Constitution,  shall  we  make 
no  remonstrance?  This  question  is  uppermost  in  Ha¬ 
waiian  hearts.” 

Such  questions  asked  by  the  perplexed  Minister 
reached  far  beyond  the  realm  which  the  Constitution  had 
assigned  to  the  executive  branch  of  the  Government.  The 
President,  therefore,  decided  to  mass  his  evidence  re¬ 
garding  the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  Hawaiian  revolu¬ 
tion  into  a  special  message  to  Congress,  and  thus  force  it 
and  the  nation  to  face  squarely  and  without  the  distraction 

of  other  topics  what  he  conceived  to  be  a  great  moral 

% 

issue.  On  December  1 8th,  this  special  Hawaiian  mes¬ 
sage  was  sent  to  Congress.  It  is  a  document  of  arraign¬ 
ment,  of  denunciation,  ballasted  by  carefully  substanti¬ 
ated  facts.  Never,  not  even  in  his  suppressed  message 
concerning  Germany’s  secret  intrigues  against  Samoan 
independence,  nor  in  his  later  and  more  famous  arraign- 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  65 

ment  of  what  he  believed  to  be  the  British  disregard  of 
Venezuela’s  sovereign  rights,  did  he  denounce  a  foreign 
government  more  uncompromisingly  than  he  here  de¬ 
nounced  his  own  government. 

It  mattered  not  to  him  that  expansion  into  the  Pacific 
was  a  popular  policy;  that  the  American  public  could 
not  easily  be  aroused  to  sympathy  with  a  dethroned,  dark- 
skinned  Oriental  queen;  that  the  wrong  which  he  de¬ 
nounced  was  an  accomplished  fact,  and  that  it  requires 
more  than  courage  and  a  good  cause  to  set  back  the  hands 
of  time.  He  poured  his  withering  scorn  upon  a  great  and 
powerful  nation  which  will  stoop  to  countenance  intrigue 
on  the  part  of  its  own  officials,  that  a  few  more  acres  of 
soil,  a  few  more  harbors  and  clear  lagoons  may  be  added 
to  its  vast  estate.  “The  control  of  both  sides  of  a  bar¬ 
gain,”  such  were  his  words,  “.  .  .  is  called  by  a  familiar 
and  unpleasant  name  when  found  in  private  transactions.” 

In  acknowledging  his  failure  to  secure  justice  to 
Hawaii,  although  executive  power  had  been  employed 
to  the  full,  he  laid  before  Congress  his  vision  of  a  foreign 
policy  worthy  of  a  great,  powerful  Christian  nation.  In 
begging  that  justice  be  done,  he  urged  upon  them  a  stand¬ 
ard  than  which  no  loftier  has  ever  been  presented  to  that 
body,  whether  by  President,  Secretary,  or  duly  elected 
Senator  or  Representative: 

“It  has  been  the  boast  of  our  Government,”  he  said, 
“that  it  seeks  to  do  justice  in  all  things,  without  regard  to 
the  strength  or  weakness  of  those  with  whom  it  deals.  I 
mistake  the  American  people  if  they  favor  the  odious  doc¬ 
trine  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  international  morality; 
that  there  is  one  law  for  a  strong  nation  and  another  for 
a  weak  one,  and  that  even  by  indirection  a  strong  power 
may  with  impunity  despoil  a  weak  one  of  its  territory. 
.  .  .  The  law  of  nations  is  founded  upon  reason  and  jus- 


66 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


tice,  and  the  rules  of  conduct  governing  individual  rela¬ 
tions  between  citizens  or  subjects  of  a  civilized  state  are 
equally  applicable  as  between  enlightened  nations. 

“The  considerations  that  international  law  is  without 
a  court  for  its  enforcement  and  that  obedience  to  its  com¬ 
mands  practically  depends  upon  good  faith  instead  of 
upon  the  mandate  of  a  superior  tribunal  only  give  addi¬ 
tional  sanction  to  the  law  itself  and  brand  any  deliberate 
infraction  of  it  not  merely  as  wrong,  but  as  a  disgrace. 
A  man  of  true  honor  protects  the  unwritten  word  which 
binds  his  conscience  more  scrupulously,  if  possible,  than 
he  does  a  bond  a  breach  of  which  subjects  him  to  legal 
liabilities,  and  the  United  States,  in  aiming  to  maintain 
itself  as  one  of  the  most  enlightened  nations,  would  do  its 
citizens  gross  injustice  if  it  applied  to  its  international 
relations  any  other  than  a  high  standard  of  honor  and 
morality.  On  that  ground  the  United  States  cannot  be 
properly  put  in  the  position  of  countenancing  a  wrong 
after  its  commission  any  more  than  of  consenting  to  it  in 
advance.  On  that  ground  it  cannot  allow  itself  to  refuse 
to  redress  an  injury  inflicted  through  an  abuse  of  power 
by  officers  clothed  with  its  authority  and  wearing  its  uni¬ 
form;  and  on  the  same  ground,  if  a  feeble  but  friendly 
state  is  in  danger  of  being  robbed  of  its  independence  and 
its  sovereignty  by  a  misuse  of  the  name  and  power  of  the 
United  States,  the  United  States  cannot  fail  to  vindicate 
its  honor  and  its  sense  of  justice  by  an  earnest  effort  to 
make  all  possible  reparation.” 

Henceforth,  while  diligently  furnishing  to  Congress 
all  information  which  reached  him,  the  President  was  no 
longer  the  chief  actor.  As  it  chanced,  on  the  very  day 
when  his  Hawaiian  message  was  presented,  Queen 
Liliuokalani  capitulated,  sending  to  Mr.  Willis  a  letter 
which  declared:  “I  must  not  feel  vengeful  to  any  of  my 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  67 

people.  If  I  am  restored  by  the  United  States,  I  must 
forget  myself,  and  remember  only  my  dear  people  and 
my  country.  .  .  .”  With  it  she  sent  a  solemn  pledge 
promising,  in  the  event  of  her  restoration,  full  pardon 
and  amnesty  to  all  who  had  taken  part  in  the  revolution. 

The  same  day  brought  to  Minister  Willis,  from  Presi¬ 
dent  Dole,  the  curt  inquiry:  “Will  you  inform  me  if 
.  .  .  you  are  acting  in  any  way  hostile  to  this  govern¬ 
ment?”  Willis’s  reply  was  a  demand  that  the  Provisional 
Government  restore  to  the  queen  the  authority  of  Consti¬ 
tutional  Monarch  of  Hawaii,  upon  which  the  Provi¬ 
sional  Government  declared  that,  even  if  the  revolution 
had  been  made  possible  by  the  assistance  of  American 
troops  and  American  officials,  which  was  stoutly  denied, 
“the  President  was  not  thereby  given  the  least  right  to 
control  the  actions  of  the  de  facto  government  of 
Hawaii,”  a  proposition  which  Mr.  Cleveland  would  have 
been  the  last  to  controvert. 

Willis  here  ventured  upon  dangerous  ground.  In 
order  to  test  the  courage  of  the  Provisional  Government 
he  resorted  to  the  menace  of  violence,  and  in  so  doing 
violated  the  whole  spirit  of  his  instructions.  Taking  ad¬ 
vantage  of  the  arrival  of  the  revenue  cutter,  Corwin ,  with 
dispatches  from  the  State  Department  the  nature  of  which 
was  of  course  unknown  to  the  Provisional  Government, 
Willis  had  the  troops  drawn  up  on  the  decks  of  the 
Adams  and  the  Philadelphia ,  as  though  preparing  to 
land  an  attack.  “He  had  the  guns  of  our  ships  pointed 
at  the  palace  in  Honolulu,”  reported  the  San  Francisco 
Evening  Bulletin  of  January  10,  1894,  “but  he  did  not 
succeed  in  scaring  anybody.  .  .  .  The  Provisional  Gov¬ 
ernment  did  not  come  down.  .  .  .  President  Dole  .  .  . 
knew  just  how  far  Willis  dared  go.  It  would  have  been 


68 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


as  much  as  his  official  neck  was  worth  to  have  done  more 
than  beat  the  tom-tom.” 

This  incident  served  to  give  the  enemies  of  the  admin¬ 
istration  a  shadowy  pretext  for  circulating  the  report  that 
the  President  was  invading  the  precincts  of  Congress, 
by  presuming  to  menace  a  friendly  sovereign  nation  with 
a  war  which  Congress  had  never  sanctioned.  The  cry  of 
impeachment  was  raised,  was  gravely  re-echoed  on  the 
floors  of  Congress,  only  to  sink  into  deserved  oblivion; 
for  those  who  knew  the  facts  knew  that  the  President  had 
never  contemplated  force  in  Hawaii,  but  only  an  hon¬ 
orable  settlement  by  mutual  agreement. 

Meanwhile,  Congress,  to  whose  wide  discretion  he 
had  committed  the  task,  as  too  large  for  mere  executive 
control,  was  unsteadily  but  certainly  yielding  to  “Mani¬ 
fest  Destiny.”  The  House  of  Representatives,  while  con¬ 
demning  the  filibustering  which  had  brought  on  the 
Hawaiian  revolution,  and  declining  to  sanction  annexa¬ 
tion  under  such  conditions,  was  naturally  unwilling  to 
take  steps  to  restore  the  deposed  queen  by  force;  while 
the  Senate  felt  that  the  United  States  should  let  Hawaiian 
affairs  alone,  insisting  that  other  nations  do  the  same. 
This  was  equivalent  to  allowing  the  revolution  to  stand, 
and  annexation  to  await  a  more  convenient  season. 

During  the  six  months  which  followed,  the  Hawaiian 
revolution  developed  into  the  Hawaiian  Republic,  which 
was  formally  proclaimed  on  July  4,  1894.  The  stability 
of  this  new  government  becoming  clear,  President  Cleve¬ 
land,  before  the  end  of  the  month,  withdrew  the  Ameri¬ 
can  vessels  from  the  harbor  of  Honolulu  and,  on  August 
7th,  sent  to  President  Dole  a  formal  letter  of  recognition. 
He  thus  accepted  in  its  fullness  the  logic  of  the  facts. 
Dole  and  his  fellow  white  men  in  Hawaii  had  succeeded 
in  establishing  an  orderly  government,  demonstrably  able 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  69 

to  fulfil  the  obligations  of  statehood.  They  were,  there¬ 
fore,  entitled  to  the  legal  recognition  which  alone  could 
make  them  responsible  agents  among  the  nations  of  the 
world. 

In  recognizing  the  new  republic  President  Cleveland 
logically  committed  himself  to  the  proposition  that  it  was 
able  to  speak  with  the  voice  of  Hawaiian  sovereignty. 
His  subsequent  refusal  to  countenance  annexation  at  its 
request  was,  therefore,  illogical  and  of  doubtful  wisdom. 
Had  he  not  thus  refused,  the  revolt  of  1895  might  have 
been  avoided.  As  it  was,  the  Royalists  made  a  final  effort 
to  re-enlist  him  in  their  now  hopeless  cause,  soon  to  end 
in  a  bloody  defeat.  They  sent  to  Washington  a  commission 
to  plead  for  his  assistance.  But  when  the  date  set  for 
the  audience  arrived,  Mr.  Cleveland  was  ill  in  bed.  He 
therefore  sent  them  the  following  address,  with  which 
they  were  forced  to  depart: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

Gentlemen : 

You  must  permit  me  to  remind  you  that  this  inter¬ 
view  is  not  an  official  one,  and  that  instead  of  receiving 
you  in  any  representative  capacity,  I  meet  you  as  indi¬ 
viduals  who  have  traveled  a  long  distance  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  laying  a  certain  matter  before  me. 

You  ask  if  there  is  any  hope  of  my  “doing  anything 
for  the  restoration  of  the  Constitutional  Government  of 
the  Hawaiian  Islands.”  I  suppose  that  this  question  is 
largely  prompted  by  the  fact  that  soon  after  the  over¬ 
turning  of  the  late  Government  of  the  Queen,  I  investi¬ 
gated  that  transaction  and  was  satisfied  that  there  had 
been  such  an  unjustifiable  interference  in  aid  of  that 
movement,  on  the  part  of  representatives  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  of  the  United  States  in  its  Diplomatic  and  Naval 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


70 

service,  as  to  call  for  correction,  not  only  to  rectify  what 
seemed  to  be  a  wrong  done  to  others,  but  also  through  that 
rectification  to  ward  off  what  appeared  to  be  a  danger  to 
American  honor  and  probity. 

“Fully  appreciating  the  constitutional  limitations  of 
my  Executive  power  and  by  no  means  unmindful  of  the 
hindrances  that  might  arise,  I  undertook  the  task.  Hav¬ 
ing  failed  in  my  plans,  I  committed  the  entire  subject  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  had  abundant 
power  and  authority  in  the  premises.  The  Executive 
branch  of  the  Government  was  thereby  discharged  from 
further  duty  and  responsibility  in  the  matter  unless  moved 
thereto  by  Congressional  command.  The  Congress  has, 
both  by  its  action  and  its  omission  to  act,  signified  that 
nothing  need  be  done  touching  American  interference 
with  the  overthrow  of  the  Government  of  the  Queen. 

“Quite  lately  a  government  has  been  established  in 
Hawaii  which  is  in  full  force  and  operation  in  all  parts 
of  the  Islands.  It  is  maintaining  its  authority  and  dis¬ 
charging  all  ordinary  governmental  functions.  Upon 
general  principles  and  not  losing  sight  of  the  special  cir¬ 
cumstances  surrounding  this  case,  the  new  government  is 
clearly  entitled  to  our  recognition  without  regard  to  any 
of  the  incidents  which  accompanied  or  preceded  its 
inauguration. 

“This  recognition  and  the  attitude  of  the  Congress 
concerning  Hawaiian  affairs  of  course  lead  to  an  absolute 
denial  of  the  least  present  or  future  aid  or  encouragement 
on  my  part  to  an  effort  to  restore  any  government  hereto¬ 
fore  existing  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands.” 

When  the  Republican  platform  of  1896  was  sent 
broadcast  over  the  country,  it  contained  these  words: 
“The  Hawaiian  Islands  should  be  controlled  by  the 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  7 1 

United  States.”  No  one  could  question  the  fact  that 
Hawaii  was  now  in  a  condition  quite  different  from  that 
of  the  days  of  the  revolution.  Her  republic  was  firmly 
established,  her  Constitution  in  effective  operation,  and 
she  had  demonstrated  her  ability  to  preserve  order  at 
home  and  to  fulfil  her  obligations  abroad.  Furthermore, 
the  friends  of  annexation  unhesitatingly  urged  two  most 
effective  arguments,  and  urged  them  through  the  medium 
of  organized  propaganda.  These  were  first,  commercial 
interest,  and  second,  fear  of  Japan. 

Almost  ninety-three  per  cent  of  Hawaii’s  trade,  de¬ 
clared  one  of  their  propaganda  leaflets,  is  with  the  United 
States.  China  and  Japan  have  only  about  two  and  a  half 
per  cent,  although  they  number  in  the  islands  over  forty 
thousand  out  of  a  total  population  of  a  hundred  and  ten 
thousand.  “We  can  prevent  Chinese  occupying  our  beau¬ 
tiful  country  .  .  .  but  it  is  not  so  with  Japan.  .  .  .  Japan 
wants  colonies  and  possessions.  From  the  Japanese  press 
and  from  what  her  people  say  here,  it  is  evident  that 
Japan  intends  to  possess  Hawaii.  .  .  .  While  you  are 
maintaining  your  policy  of  ‘hands  off’  and  ‘let  Hawaii 
alone’  .  .  .  the  Japanese  will  quietly  and  peacefully  pour 
into  Hawaii  till  they  simply  overwhelm  us  by  their  num¬ 
bers.  .  .  .  When  Hawaii  is  full  of  Japanese,  of  whom 
many  will  be  educated  and  just  as  intelligent  and  capable 
of  self-government  as  our  present  electors,  can  it  be  sup¬ 
posed  that  we  can  prevent  them  from  voting?  Never! 
and  by  a  single  election  all  will  be  changed.  ...  In 
place  of  the  beloved  Stars  and  Stripes,  our  ports  will  be 
filled  with  ships  carrying  the  bright  field  and  proud  sun 
flag  of  Japan.” 

In  response  to  such  appeals  President  McKinley,  on 
June  16,  1897,  submitted  to  the  United  States  Senate  a 
new  treaty  of  annexation.  And  three  days  later  Mr. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


72 

Cleveland  wrote  to  Mr.  Olney :  “Did  you  ever  see  such  a 
preposterous  thing  as  the  Hawaiian  business?  The 
papers  I  read  are  most  strongly  opposed  to  it  and  there 
ought  to  be  soberness  and  decency  enough  in  the  Senate 
to  save  us  from  launching  upon  the  dangerous  policy 
which  is  foreshadowed  by  the  pending  treaty;  but  I  am 
prepared  for  almost  anything.” 

For  a  time  the  opposition  in  the  Senate  proved 
stronger  than  Mr.  Cleveland  had  dared  hope.  The  ex¬ 
pected  ratification  failed  to  materialize,  and  on  February 
16,  1898,  Mr.  Cleveland,  now  a  private  citizen,  wrote 
confidently  to  Olney:  “All  the  influence  of  this  ad¬ 
ministration  appears  unable  thus  far  to  bring  to  a  suc¬ 
cessful  issue  the  Hawaiian  monstrosity.”  But  the 
annexationists  bided  their  time,  which  now  was  not  far 
off.  On  April  25,  1898,  came  the  declaration  of  war 
against  Spain,  and  for  a  time  it  seemed  that  the  annexa¬ 
tion  question  would  have  to  wait  upon  more  pressing 
matters.  “Hawaii,”  wrote  Mr.  Olney  to  Mr.  Cleveland, 
with  the  intimacy  of  an  old  comrade  in  arms,  “seems  to 
be  in  the  soup.” 

That  “soup,”  however,  offered  unforeseen  advantages 
to  the  cause  of  annexation,  for  the  new  government  of 
Hawaii  soon  won  further  favor  in  the  United  States  by 
openly  violating  international  law  in  allowing  American 
ships  of  war  to  coal  in  Honolulu  and  to  use  the  islands  as 
a  sort  of  naval  base,  thus  giving  a  graphic  illustration  of 
the  vastly  increased  importance  of  annexation,  now  that 
American  guns  had  made  for  us  a  Philippine  problem. 

About  a  month  after  Admiral  Dewey’s  victory  at 
Manila  Bay  (May  1,  1898),  President  McKinley  re¬ 
marked  to  Mr.  Cortelyou:  “We  need  Hawaii  just  as 
much  and  a  good  deal  more  than  we  did  California.  It 
is  Manifest  Destiny.”  Two  months  later  he  signed  a  joint 


BLOCKING  “MANIFEST  DESTINY”  IN  HAWAII  73 

resolution  of  both  houses  annexing  the  islands,  and  on 
August  1 2th,  the  very  American  flag  which  Grover 
Cleveland  had  caused  to  be  hauled  down  was  raised  again 
in  token  of  American  sovereignty.  “Manifest  Destiny” 
had  triumphed  at  last. 

After  reading  the  newspaper  account  of  the  closing 
scene  in  the  long  drama,  Mr.  Cleveland  sadly  wrote  to 
Mr.  Olney:  “Hawaii  is  ours.  As  I  look  back  upon  the 
first  steps  in  this  miserable  business  and  as  I  contemplate 
the  means  used  to  complete  the  outrage,  I  am  ashamed 
of  the  whole  affair.” 

The  world’s  past  struggles  toward  liberty  and  equality 
have  had  as  their  goal  liberty  and  equality  among  those 
of  the  white  race.  Its  struggles  to  come  lie  along  the 
pathway  that  leads  to  liberty  and  equality  among  all  peo¬ 
ples,  whether  white  or  black,  red,  brown,  or  yellow.  In 
the  Hawaiian  affair  Grover  Cleveland  made  many  minor 
mistakes,  but  in  holding  that  far-off  goal  before  the  eyes 
of  his  fellow-citizens,  he  was,  in  a  very  real  and  a  very 
heroic  sense,  a  world-pioneer. 


CHAPTER  III 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN — THE  FOUR  BOND  ISSUES 

"There  is  a  vast  difference  between  a  standard  of  value  and 
a  currency  for  monetary  use.” 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

WHAT  our  nation  needs — and  sorely  needs,”  Mr. 

Cleveland  said,  when  speaking  in  honor  of  the 
great  American,  Carl  Schurz,  “is  more  patriotism  that 
is  born  of  moral  courage — the  courage  that  attacks  abuses 
and  struggles  for  civic  reforms,  single-handed,  without 
counting  opposing  numbers  or  measuring  opposing 
forces.” 

Had  these  words  been  written  for  Grover  Cleveland 
himself,  they  could  not  have  better  described  his  attitude 
toward  the  duties  which  go  with  office.  His  public  life 
was  a  succession  of  such  conflicts.  Before  one  storm  was 
over,  there  always  appeared  on  the  political  horizon 
another  cloud  the  size  of  a  man’s  hand,  prophesying 
another  deluge.  When  thinking  of  his  public  life,  he 
instinctively  thought  of  conflict,  and  his  writing  regard¬ 
ing  his  two  administrations  deals  wholly  with  the  history 
of  major  struggles  in  the  interest  of  what  he  conceived  to 
be  the  honor  of  the  Republic  and  the  safety  of  its  people. 

Four  years  before  his  death,  in  outlining  a  course  of 
lectures  regarding  his  second  term,  to  be  delivered  at 
Princeton  University,  he  wrote:  “The  members  of  that 
administration  who  still  survive,  in  recalling  the  events 
of  this  laborious  service,  cannot  fail  to  fix  upon  the  years 
1894  and  1895  as  the  most  troublous  and  anxious  of  their 
incumbency.’1  He  enumerated  as  the  chief  incidents  of 

74 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  75 

that  testing  time  the  following  leading  conflicts:  (i) 
“Unhappy  currency  complications  [which]  compelled 
executive  resort  to  heroic  treatment  for  the  preservation 
of  our  nation’s  financial  integrity,  and  forced  upon  the 
administration  a  constant,  unrelenting  struggle  for  sound 
money.”  (2)  “A  long  and  persistent  executive  effort  to 
accomplish  beneficent  and  satisfactory  tariff  reform.” 
(3)  “A  very  determined  labor  disturbance  [which]  broke 
out  in  the  City  of  Chicago.”  (4)  “Executive  insistence 
upon  the  Monroe  Doctrine  [which]  culminated  in  a  sit¬ 
uation  that  gave  birth  to  solemn  thoughts  of  war.” 

The  first  and  most  pressing  of  these  questions  was  but 
the  recurrence,  in  a  slightly  different  form,  of  the  struggle 
which  had  resulted  in  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Law, 
on  November  1,  1893.  Almost  immediately  after  that 
repeal  it  became  apparent  that  the  President  had  won 
not  a  victory  but  an  armistice,  and  that  another  trial  of 
strength  was  inevitable.  This  was  precipitated  neither 
by  Mr.  Cleveland  nor  by  his  free  silver  opponents,  but 
by  the  operation  of  economic  law,  menacing  the  country 
with  the  banishment  of  gold  and  the  consequent  estab¬ 
lishment  of  a  silver  standard  of  value. 

Despite  the  opposition  which  he  offered  to  the  free 
coinage  of  silver,  President  Cleveland  never  objected  to 
the  free  use  of  silver  as  money.  What  he  feared,  and 
fought,  was  the  substitution  of  a  silver  basis  of  value  for 
our  established  gold  standard,  and  the  repeal  of  the  Sher¬ 
man  Law  had  done  little  to  quiet  his  fears.  He  was  still 
responsible  for  the  impossible  task  of  keeping  the  two 
metals  at  a  parity,  which  meant  that  still  he  must  be  ready 
to  pay  a  gold  dollar  whenever  a  Treasury  note,  repre¬ 
senting  only  a  deposit  of  about  sixty  cents  worth  of  silver, 
was  presented  with  a  demand  for  gold. 

To  do  this  it  was  essential  that  the  gold  reserve,  de- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


76 

signed  to  cover  only  greenbacks,  be  maintained  at  a 
strength  sufficient  for  this  added  strain  upon  it.  But, 
despite  the  fact  that  he  had  stopped  the  monthly  increase 
of  Treasury  notes  by  repealing  the  Sherman  Law,  his 
gold  reserve  was  melting  away.  The  combined  attack  of 
the  outstanding  $450,000,000  of  United  States  notes  and 
greenbacks  was  working  ruin,  for,  when  redeemed  for 
gold,  they  had  to  be  reissued,  only  to  return  and  draw 
out  more  gold. 

Thus,  in  an  endless  chain,  the  paper  money  ran,  drag¬ 
ging  the  gold  reserve  ever  downward,  and  bringing  the 
country  ever  nearer  to  the  point  where  gold  payment 
must  be  refused.  Gold,  furthermore,  was  being  exported 
to  an  extent  that  added  to  the  President’s  alarm.  As  the 
total  amount  of  gold  in  the  country  was  now  only 
$597,697,865,  it  was  not  difficult  to  foresee  the  end. 

The  only  available  means  of  replenishing  the  gold 
reserve  was  through  the  issue  of  government  bonds,  as 
authorized  by  an  act  of  January  14,  1875.  But  the  prac¬ 
tical  value  of  this  method  was  greatly  lessened  by  the  fact 
that  such  bonds  could  not  be  made  payable  in  gold.  To 
persuade  the  public  to  buy  for  gold  five  per  cent  ten-year 
bonds,  four  and  a  half  per  cent  fifteen-year  bonds,  or  four 
per  cent  thirty-year  bonds  “payable  in  coin,”  was  certain 
to  prove  difficult,  as  the  purchaser  must  take  the  chance 
of  having  them  redeemed  in  depreciated  silver  at  the  end, 
should  the  Treasury  Department  so  order. 

In  forcing  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Law,  President 
Cleveland  had,  therefore,  taken  only  the  first  step  in  his 
monetary  reform,  and  he  now  prepared  for  the  second, 
the  issuing  of  bonds  to  secure  the  gold  necessary  to  main¬ 
tain  the  gold  reserve. 

At  once  the  free  silver  men  of  both  parties  formed 
plans  to  block  the  program. 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  77 

Congressman  William  Jennings  Bryan  was  especially 
active  in  opposition.  On  January  5,  1894,  Secretary  Mor¬ 
ton  wrote  to  Henry  T.  Thurber,  Private  Secretary  to  the 
President: 

“Find  herewith  enclosed  a  Washington  dispatch  taken 
from  the  Omaha  Daily  Bee  of  Tuesday,  January  2.  Mr. 
Heath,  who  signs  it,  is  rather  a  careful  and  conservative 
man,  and,  I  think,  incapable  of  willing  misrepresenta¬ 
tion.  Therefore,  I  send  the  article  to  you,  that  the  Presi¬ 
dent  may  see  precisely  how  Mr.  Bryan  represents  himself 
to  his  people  in  Nebraska,  upon  the  issuance  of  bonds, 
which  are  vital  to  the  good  credit  of  our  common  country. 

“Very  truly  yours, 

“J.  Sterling  Morton.” 

The  enclosed  clipping  declared:  “Bryan  comes 
uppermost.  .  .  .  Fate  of  the  bond  issue  in  his  hands. 
.  .  .  Bryan,  after  all,  appears  to  hold  the  whip  hand  upon 
the  administration,  and  will  be  heard  from  and  felt  in 
such  a  way  as  to  compel  President  Cleveland  to  respect 
if  not  fear  him.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ways  and  Means 
Sub-committee  having  in  charge  the  subject  of  the  pub¬ 
lic  debt.  To  this  sub-committee,  composed  also  of 
McMillin,  of  Tennessee,  and  Whiting,  of  Michigan,  will 
be  referred  the  bond  question.  The  administration  is 
very  anxious  for  authority  to  issue  $200,000,000  or  more 
of  bonds,  with  which  to  meet  current  expenses,  fill  the 
deficiency  vacuum  and  replenish  the  gold  reserve.  Mr. 
Bryan  is  opposed  to  a  bond  issue  for  any  purpose,  and  so 
are  his  two  colleagues.  .  ,  .  It  looks  as  though  a  bond 
issue  may  be  defeated.” 

A  later  paragraph  throws  light  upon  Mr.  Bryan’s 
political  methods:  “In  view  of  Mr.  Bryan’s  new  acces- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


78 

sion  of  strength  by  virtue  of  the  proposed  bond  issue,  it 
will  create  no  surprise  if  he  hereafter  gets  his  full  share 
of  the  Nebraska  federal  patronage.  He  is  now  confident 
of  being  able  to  name  the  postmaster  at  Lincoln.  .  .  . 
If  the  Morton-Castor  combine  cuts  him  out  of  this  piece 
of  local  patronage,  it  can  confidently  be  expected  that 
Mr.  Bryan  will  make  the  fur  fly  on  the  bond  issue 
problem.” 

There  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  President  Cleveland 
ever  contemplated  the  issue  of  $200,000,000  of  bonds  at 
any  one  time,  although  the  total  amount  of  the  bonds 
actually  issued  by  him,  in  his  fight  to  preserve  the  gold 
standard,  greatly  exceeded  that  amount,  and  the  statement 
that  he  designed  to  employ  the  proceeds  of  the  bond  issue 
to  meet  current  expenses  was  palpably  untrue.  The 
Treasury  Department  had  no  authority  to  issue  bonds  for 
such  a  purpose,  and  the  President  later  assured  Congress 
that  “at  no  time  .  .  .  has  there  been  any  consideration  of 
the  question.” 

By  January  17th,  the  gold  reserve  stood  at  $70,000,000, 
and  the  public  was  showing  itself  more  and  more  dis¬ 
trustful  of  the  government’s  will  or  ability  to  furnish 
gold  upon  demand.  The  same  day  Secretary  Carlisle 
announced  that  $50,000,000  in  ten-year  five  per  cent 
bonds,  redeemable  in  “coin,”  would  be  on  sale  for  gold 
until  the  first  of  the  following  February.  But  he  warned 
all  prospective  purchasers  that  no  bid  would  be  con¬ 
sidered  which  did  not  offer  a  fraction  over  seventeen  per 
cent  premium,  thus  reducing  the  yield  to  three  per  cent. 

The  bond  sale  worked  far  less  smoothly  than  did  the 
endless  chain.  Buyers  were  so  alarmingly  few  that  the 
President,  fearful  lest  the  issue  fail,  despatched  Mr.  Car¬ 
lisle  to  New  York  to  confer  with  a  number  of  well-known 
financiers,  an  unwelcome  expedient  for  one  who  had 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  79 

often  declared  that  “the  government  ought  not,  regardless 
of  any  public  purpose,  to  identify  itself  with  private 
business  or  speculation.”  The  financiers,  fully  conscious 
of  the  danger,  rallied  to  the  support  of  the  government, 
and  “barely  in  time  to  prevent  a  disastrous  failure  of  the 
sale,”  as  Mr.  Cleveland  later  explained.  The  gold 
realized  from  this  sale  amounted  to  $58,660,917.63,  thus 
raising  the  reserve  to  $107,440,802,  and  the  crisis  was 
over  for  the  moment. 

The  President  knew,  however,  that  it  was  only  for 
the  moment,  and  therefore  toward  the  end  of  March  he 
sent  to  Congress  a  message  which  urged  “the  desirability 
of  granting  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  a  better 
power  than  now  exists  to  issue  bonds  to  protect  the  gold 
reserve.”  In  view  of  the  composition  of  that  body,  pru¬ 
dence  demanded  that,  pending  its  answer,  he  should  avoid 
any  action  likely  to  lead  to  conflict.  But,  unfortunately, 
such  a  course  was  impossible.  The  Seigniorage  Bill 
which  Congress  had  just  passed  was  waiting  his  signature, 
and  sign  it  he  could  not. 

Seigniorage  is  the  gain  accruing  to  the  government  by 
the  purchase  of  bullion  at  a  price  less  than  the  value 
stamped  on  the  metal  when  coined.  It  represents  the 
difference  between  a  silver  dollar  and  a  dollar’s  worth  of 
silver.  The  Seigniorage  Bill  provided  for  an  addition  to 
the  currency  of  approximately  50,000,000  silver  dollars, 
coined  from  the  Seigniorage  in  the  Treasury,  and  worth 
intrinsically  about  fifty  per  cent,  of  their  face  value. 
Congressman  Bland  of  Missouri — “Silver  Dick,”  his 
admirers  called  him — was  its  sponsor,  and  it  was  the 
darling  project  of  the  free  silver  men,  who  regarded  it 
as  the  test  to  determine  whether  or  not  the  President  was 
an  irreconcilable  enemy  of  silver. 

The  receipt  of  the  Seigniorage  Bill,  therefore,  placed 


So 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


the  President  in  serious  embarrassment.  Many  of  his 
sound  money  supporters  assumed  that  he  would  veto  it. 
Carl  Schurz  wrote:  “Put  your  heel  on  this  seigniorage 
humbug  and  save  the  country’s  honor.” 

On  the  other  hand,  many  friends  as  ardently  “sound 
money”  as  Mr.  Schurz,  urged  him  to  sign  the  bill,  argu¬ 
ing  that  the  amount  of  silver  was  so  small  as  to  add  little 
to  the  danger  of  the  situation,  and  that  the  enmity  which 
would  be  aroused  by  a  veto  would  greatly  weaken  his 
chance  of  being  given  the  power  needed  for  an  effective 
bond  issue.  Among  these  Secretary  Gresham  was  con¬ 
spicuous,  and  no  one  could  question  the  fact  that  he  was 
the  soundest  of  sound  money  men.  Still  others  urged  him 
to  sign  the  bill  in  the  interest  of  party  unity.  “If  you 
veto  it,”  wrote  David  R.  Francis,  “the  party  will  be  so 
irreparably  divided  and  demoralized  that  defeat  will 
ensue.” 

But  the  latter  argument  only  angered  the  President. 
He  could  not  comprehend  how  sound  money  men  could 
hope  to  purchase  party  unity  by  consenting  to  an  increase 
of  unsound  money.  By  the  terms  of  the  bill,  the  seignior¬ 
age  was  to  be  coined  “into  legal  tender  standard  dollars,” 
the  fiat  of  the  government  being  substituted  for  real  value. 

William  Elroy  Curtis,  then  Washington  correspon¬ 
dent  for  the  Chicago  Record ,  gives  this  account  of  an 
interview  in  which  the  President  expressed  his  views 
upon  the  ethics  of  the  situation : 

“The  president  lost  his  temper  yesterday  while  a  party 
of  western  and  southern  congressmen  were  trying  to  per¬ 
suade  him  to  sign  the  silver  bill.  .  .  .  After  discussing 
the  financial  side  of  the  question  they  brought  up  the 
political  end  of  it,  and  one  of  them  told  the  president 
that  unless  the  bill  became  a  law  there  was  no  hope  for 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN 


8l 


the  democrats’  getting  a  majority  in  the  next  congress. 
He  added,  by  way  of  a  clincher,  that  it  would  be  scarcely 
possible  for  him  and  several  others  of  the  gentlemen 
present  to  be  re-elected. 

“Whereupon  the  president  turned  on  him  and  re¬ 
marked  that  he  supposed  that  was  the  reason  why  the  bill 
got  so  many  votes  in  the  house,  and  proceeded  to  give  his 
opinion  of  members  of  congress  who  pandered  to  the  de¬ 
lusions  of  the  people  and  voted  for  all  sorts  of  legislation 
in  order  to  keep  themselves  in  office.  He  said  that  the 
credit  of  the  government  and  the  condition  of  the  national 
finances  were  too  important  to  be  treated  from  that  point 
of  view,  and  that  he  had  a  decided  contempt  for  anyone 
who  would  ask  him  to  aid  in  such  legislation  for  such  a 
reason.” 

Having  considered  the  bill  wholly  upon  its  merits, 
and  with  reference  to  the  public  interest,  Mr.  Cleveland 
returned  it  to  Congress  with  his  veto,  on  March  29,  1894, 
the  very  day  when  he  asked  Congress  for  “a  better  power 
than  now  exists  to  issue  bonds.” 

Had  it  been  possible,  the  President  would  doubtless 
have  swallowed  his  pride  and  his  personal  opinions  and 
signed,  in  order  to  win  support  for  the  demand  for  power 
which  he  had  just  made  upon  Congress,  but  he  consid¬ 
ered  the  Seigniorage  Bill  a  concession  to  dishonesty  and 
as  such  he  could  no*  sign  it.  This  his  veto  message  made 
perfectly  plain: 

“My  strong  desire  to  avoid  disagreement  with  those 
in  both  Houses  of  Congress  who  have  supported  this  bill 
would  lead  me  to  approve  it  if  I  could  believe  that  the 
public  good  would  not  be  thereby  endangered  and  that 
such  action  on  my  part  would  be  a  proper  discharge  of 


82 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


official  duty.  Inasmuch,  however,  as  I  am  unable  to 
satisfy  myself  that  the  proposed  legislation  is  either  wise 
or  opportune,  my  conception  of  the  obligations  and  re¬ 
sponsibilities  attached  to  the  great  office  I  hold  forbids 
the  indulgence  of  my  personal  desire  and  inexorably  con¬ 
fines  me  to  that  course  which  is  dictated  by  my  reason 
and  judgment,  and  pointed  out  by  a  sincere  purpose  to 
protect  and  promote  the  general  interests  of  our  people.” 

In  the  face  of  this  veto  Congress  refused  to  grant  the 
extra  powers  for  which  the  President  had  pleaded,  and 
the  latter  was  forced  to  make  shift  to  defend  the  gold 
standard  with  the  powers  already  possessed.  For  this 
he  saw  no  chance,  save  a  succession  of  bond  issues,  likely 
to  give  only  temporary  relief. 

So  hopeless  was  the  situation  that  he  at  times  indulged 
the  thought  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  in  consenting  to 
return  to  office.  “I  do  not  mind  confessing  to  you,”  he 
wrote  to  one  of  his  former  New  York  law  partners,  How¬ 
ard  Van  Sinderen,  on  April  6th,  “that  my  position  at 
15  Broad  Street  was  an  easier  one  than  I  now  occupy, 
and  I  occasionally  wonder  if  it  was  not  quite  as  useful.” 

Within  three  months  of  the  close  of  the  first  bond 
sales,  the  gold  reserve  stood  at  $78,693,267,  and  was  still 
sinking,  while  domestic  hoarding  and  exportation  of  gold 
were  on  the  increase,  and  the  customs  revenues  brought 
practically  no  gold  into  the  Treasury.  The  time  had 
come  for  another  issue  or  a  silver  basis. 

With  state  and  congressional  elections  almost  in  sight, 
this  was  a  hard  alternative,  but  Mr.  Cleveland  showed 
no  hesitation.  “An  obedient  regard  for  official  duty,” 
he  later  explained,  “made  the  right  path  exceedingly 
plain.” 

Unfortunately  for  the  President,  and  for  the  party 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  83 

which  he  led,  this  plain  path  of  duty  made  plain  also 
the  path  of  opportunity  for  Hill,  Sheehan,  and  Murphy, 
in  New  York,  and  for  like-minded  politicians  throughout 
the  land.  So  sinister  was  the  interpretation  given  by  his 
enemies  to  the  bond  issue  and  its  approaching  duplicate 
that  many  of  the  President’s  former  supporters  turned 
against  such  of  the  party  candidates  as  remained  his 
friends,  and  supported  those  who  were  openly  antago¬ 
nistic  to  him.  The  Democrats  of  New  York  assembled 
in  a  rollicking  convention  at  Saratoga  on  Monday,  Sep¬ 
tember  24th,  and  staged  an  anti-Cleveland  scene  which 
recalls  the  description  of  Revolutionary  Boston,  as  a  place 
where  the  King’s  enemies  went  about  in  homespun  and 
his  friends  in  tar  and  feathers.  They  nominated  David 
B.  Hill  for  Governor  and  equally  dear  enemies  for  other 
important  state  offices. 

The  folly  of  this  course  was  soon  evident.  The  Re¬ 
form  Democrats,  revolting  from  Hill,  nominated  Everett 
P.  Wheeler  for  Governor,  thus  insuring  the  election  of 
Levi  P.  Morton,  candidate  of  the  Republicans  and  Inde¬ 
pendent  Republicans.  William  L.  Strong,  Republican 
and  Union  Anti-Tammany  candidate  for  Mayor  of  New 
York,  won  an  overwhelming  victory,  while,  in  the  country 
at  large,  there  was  a  veritable  landslide  toward  Republi¬ 
canism.  “The  latest  returns,”  declared  the  New  York 
Tribune  of  November  8,  1894,  “.  .  .  show  that  there  have 
been  elected  to  the  next  House  of  Representatives  234 
Republicans,  117  Democrats  and  3  Populists.”  Even  the 
solid  South  was  broken,  not  one  but  many  Southern  states 
returning  Republican  Congressmen  in  considerable  num¬ 
bers:  West  Virginia  4,  Maryland  3,  Kentucky  4,  Vir¬ 
ginia  2,  North  Carolina  3,  Tennessee  4,  Missouri  7, 
Delaware  1,  and  even  Texas  1. 


84 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


On  November  14th,  eight  days  after  the  elections,  the 
second  bond  issue  was  announced,  $50,000,000  of  five  per 
cent  bonds  being  again  the  proposition  presented  to  the 
public.  But  the  public  was  no  more  disposed  than  for¬ 
merly  to  part  with  gold  in  exchange  for  bonds.  Once 
more  bidding  was  dishearteningly  slow  and  insultingly 
low. 

At  last  came  a  bid  “for  all  or  none”  from  a  combina¬ 
tion  of  thirty-three  banking  institutions  and  financiers  of 
New  York.  Their  offer  being  more  advantageous  to  the 
government  than  all  previous  bids,  it  was  accepted,  and 
the  President  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  $58,538,500 
added  to  the  gold  reserve. 

In  view  of  the  unkind  and  ungenerous  interpretation 
which  has  been  so  often  put  upon  this  transaction,  it  is 
only  fair  to  quote  the  words  of  Mr.  Cleveland,  written 
ten  years  later :  “The  President  .  .  .  of  the  United  States 
Trust  Company  .  .  .  rendered  most  useful  and  patriotic 
service  in  making  both  this  and  the  previous  offer  of  bonds 
successful.  .  .  .  He  afterward  testified  under  oath  that 
the  accepted  bid  for  ‘all  or  none,’  in  which  his  company 
was  a  large  participant,  proved  unprofitable  to  the 
bidders.” 

In  calmer  days  even  the  New  York  World  acknowl¬ 
edged  that:  “The  first  two  bond  issues  by  the  Cleveland 
administration  .  .  .  were  made  with  full  publicity  and 
entire  propriety.” 

When  on  December  3,  1894,  Congress  heard  the 
President’s  annual  message,  it  listened  to  no  vague  gen¬ 
eralities  written  to  conciliate  hostile  factions,  or  disarm 
jubilant  political  opponents.  He  painted  the  financial 
situation  in  somber  colors,  and  suggested  the  cure  in 
specific  terms.  But  neither  his  pleas,  his  arguments,  nor 
his  lucid  explanations  produced  the  slightest  effect  upon 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  85 

his  enemies,  who  rejoiced  at  his  discomfiture  and  declined 
to  give  him  the  authority  which  he  demanded. 

In  January,  1895,  the  gold  withdrawals  amounted  to 
$45,000,000,  and  again  the  end  of  gold  payment  was  not 
far  off  unless  Congress  would  consent  to  act  or  the  Presi¬ 
dent  should  for  the  third  time  issue  bonds.  On  the  28th, 
he  again  appealed  to  Congress,  but  again  his  plea  was 
disregarded,  and  by  February  8th  the  gold  reserve  was 
less  than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  traditional  level  of  safety. 

Meanwhile,  many  of  his  most  trusted  advisers  were 
eagerly  urging  him  to  invoke  expert  aid  from  Wall  Street 
again,  but  with  little  success.  While  bitterly  resentful 
toward  Congress,  he  was  disposed  to  blame  the  bankers 
also,  and  declined  to  hold  further  conference  with  them. 
Finally,  however,  less  in  concession  to  friendly  advice 
than  because  he  had  become  convinced  that  the  public 
would  not  purchase  more  government  bonds,  he  agreed 
to  see  J.  P.  Morgan,  though  he  was  still  firmly  resolved 
that  any  new  issue  of  bonds  should  be  first  offered  to  pub¬ 
lic  subscription.  In  commenting  upon  this  decision,  a 
prominent  banker  declared:  “If  a  man  needs  beef,  he 
goes  to  a  butcher;  if  he  needs  gold,  he  goes  to  a  banker. 
If  he  needs  a  great  deal  of  beef,  he  goes  to  a  big  butcher; 
if  he  requires  a  great  deal  of  gold,  he  must  go  to  a  big 
banker  and  pay  his  price  for  it.” 

The  story  of  the  now  famous  interview  between  the 
President  and  Mr.  Morgan  was  later  thus  related  by  Mr. 
Cleveland  himself : 

“On  the  evening  of  the  seventh  day  of  February,  1895, 
an  interview  was  held  at  the  White  House  with  J.  P. 
Morgan  of  New  York.  .  .  .  Secretary  Carlisle  was  pres¬ 
ent  nearly  or  quite  all  the  time;  Attorney  General  Olney 


86 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


was  there  a  portion  of  the  time,  and  Mr.  Morgan  and  a 
young  man  from  his  office  and  myself  all  the  time. 

“At  the  outset  Mr.  Morgan  was  inclined  to  complain 
of  the  treatment  he  had  received  from  Treasury  officials 
in  the  repudiation  of  the  arrangement  which  he  thought 
he  had  been  encouraged  to  perfect  in  connection  with  the 
disposal  of  another  issue  of  bonds.  I  said  to  Mr.  Mor¬ 
gan  [that]  whatever  there  might  be  in  all  this,  another 
offer  of  bonds  for  popular  subscription,  open  to  all  bid¬ 
ders,  had  been  determined  upon,  and  that  there  were  two 
questions  I  wanted  to  ask  him  which  he  ought  to  be  able 
to  answer:  one  was  whether  the  bonds  to  be  so  offered 
would  probably  be  taken  at  a  good  price  on  short  notice; 
and  the  other  was  whether,  in  case  there  should  be  immi¬ 
nent  danger  of  the  disappearance  of  what  remained  of  the 
gold  reserve,  during  the  time  that  must  elapse  between 
published  notice  and  the  opening  of  bids,  a  sufficient 
amount  of  gold  could  be  temporarily  obtained  from  finan¬ 
cial  institutions  in  the  City  of  New  York  to  bridge  over 
the  difficulty  and  save  the  reserve  until  the  Government 
could  realize  upon  the  sale  of  its  bonds. 

“Mr.  Morgan  replied  that  he  had  no  doubt  bonds 
could  be  again  sold  on  popular  subscription  at  some  price, 
but  he  could  not  say  what  the  price  would  be;  and  to  the 
second  inquiry  his  answer  was  that,  in  his  opinion,  such 
an  advance  of  gold  as  might  be  required  could  be  accom¬ 
plished  if  the  gold  could  be  kept  in  the  country,  but  that 
there  might  be  reluctance  to  make  such  an  advance  if  it 
was  to  be  immediately  withdrawn  for  shipment  abroad, 
leaving  our  financial  condition  substantially  unimproved. 

“After  a  little  further  discussion  of  the  situation,  he 
suddenly  asked  me  why  we  did  not  buy  $100,000,000  in 
gold  at  a  fixed  price  and  pay  for  it  in  bonds  under  Sec¬ 
tion  3700  of  the  Revised  Statutes. 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  87 

“This  was  a  proposition  entirely  new  to  me.  I  turned 
to  the  Statutes  and  read  the  section  he  mentioned.  Sec¬ 
retary  Carlisle  confirmed  me  in  the  opinion  that  this  law 
abundantly  authorized  such  a  transaction,  and  agreed 
that  it  might  be  expedient  if  favorable  terms  could  be 
made. 

“The  section  of  the  Statute  referred  to  reads  as  fol¬ 
lows:  ‘Section  3700.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may 
purchase  coin  with  any  of  the  bonds  or  notes  of  the  United 
States,  authorized  by  law,  at  such  rates  and  upon  such 
terms  as  he  may  deem  most  advantageous  to  the  public 
interest.’ 

“Mr.  Morgan  strongly  urged  that,  if  we  proceeded 
under  this  law,  the  amount  of  gold  purchased  should  not 
be  less  than  $100,000,000;  but  he  was  at  once  informed 
that  in  no  event  would  more  bonds  be  then  issued  than 
would  be  sufficient  to  provide  for  adding  to  the  reserve 
about  $60,000,000,  the  amount  necessary  to  raise  the  fund 
to  $100,000,000.  .  .  . 

“The  position  of  Mr.  Morgan  and  other  parties  in 
interest  whom  he  represented  was  such  in  the  business 
world  that  they  were  abundantly  able  not  only  to  furnish 
the  gold  we  needed,  but  to  protect  us  .  .  .  against  its 
immediate  loss.  Their  willingness  to  undertake  both 
these  services  was  developed  during  the  discussion  of  the 
plan  proposed.” 

Mr.  Morgan  also  announced  that  he  and  his  asso¬ 
ciates  would  be  glad  to  accept  bonds  bearing  three  per 
cent  instead  of  four  per  cent  if  they  were  made  payable  in 
gold  instead  of  in  coin,  but  the  power  to  authorize  such  a 
transaction  lay  wholly  with  Congress,  and  the  House  of 
Representatives  had  just  declined  to  sanction  such  a 
change.  Mr.  Morgan  then  suggested  that  ten  days  be 
allowed  in  which  to  induce  Congress  to  change  its  deci- 


88 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


sion,  as  the  government  could  thus  save  $16,000,000.  But 
Mr.  Cleveland  knew  that  such  a  delay  would  avail  noth¬ 
ing,  and  so,  again  to  quote  his  words: 

“After  careful  consideration  of  every  detail  until  a 
late  hour  of  the  night,  an  agreement  was  made  by  which 
J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  for  themselves  and 
for  J.  S.  Morgan  &  Co.,  of  London,  August  Belmont  & 
Co.,  of  New  York,  for  themselves  and  for  N.  M.  Roths¬ 
child  &  Sons,  of  London,  were  to  sell  and  deliver  to  the 
Government  3,500,000  ounces  of  standard  gold  coin  of 
the  United  States,  to  be  paid  for  in  bonds  bearing  annual 
interest  at  the  rate  of  4 °/o  per  annum,  and  payable  [in 
coin]  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Government  after  thirty  years 
from  their  date,  such  bonds  to  be  issued  and  delivered 
from  time  to  time  as  the  gold  coin  to  be  furnished  was 
deposited  by  said  parties  in  the  Sub-Treasuries  or  other 
depositories  of  the  United  States. 

“At  least  one  half  of  the  [gold]  coin  so  delivered  was 
to  be  obtained  in  Europe,  and  shipped  from  there  in 
amounts  not  less  than  300,000  ounces  per  month,  at  the 
expense  and  risk  of  the  parties  furnishing  the  same;  and 
so  far  as  was  in  their  power  they  were  to  ‘exert  all  finan¬ 
cial  influence  and  make  all  legitimate  efforts  to  protect 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  against  the  withdrawals 
of  gold  pending  the  complete  performance  of  the 
contract.’  ” 

“The  conference  lasted  some  hours,”  writes  John  G. 
Milburn,  “under  conditions  so  tense  as  to  be  almost  in¬ 
describable.  I  remember  Mr.  Morgan’s  describing  how 
he  held  a  large  unlighted  cigar  in  his  hand,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  conference  he  found  it  was  gone,  having  been 
unconsciously  ground  into  powder  under  the  excitement 
of  the  occasion.” 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN 


89 

But,  despite  this  excitement,  Mr.  Morgan’s  outward 
appearance  was  quite  calm,  and  Mr.  Cleveland  later  com¬ 
mented  upon  his  “quiet,  masterly  way  of  coming  to  the 
rescue.” 

The  conference  over,  the  President  retired  to  prepare 
a  message  for  the  opening  of  the  congressional  session  on 
the  morrow,  leaving  to  Secretary  Carlisle,  Attorney 
General  Olney,  and  the  bankers  the  task  of  reducing  the 
agreement  to  writing. 

The  Morgan-Cleveland  bond  contract  was  a  bold 
move;  indeed  it  is  doubtful  whether  a  bolder  could  be 
found  in  our  financial  history,  and  the  message  sent  to 
Congress  the  next  day  was  not  less  bold.  In  barely  one 
thousand  words,  Mr.  Cleveland  explained,  not  a  plan,  but 
an  action.  He  informed  Congress  that,  as  they  had  failed 
to  grant  him  the  power  needed  to  defend  the  public  credit, 
he  had  acted  “in  pursuance  of  Section  3700  of  the  Revised 
Statutes”  and  concluded  an  agreement  “with  parties 
abundantly  able  to  fulfill  their  undertaking.” 

Five  days  later  the  President  wrote  to  his  British 
Ambassador: 


Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

Feby.  13, 1895 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Bayard: 

First  of  all  I  want  to  thank  you,  from  the  bottom  of 
my  heart,  for  several  very  kind  and  very  comforting  let¬ 
ters  I  have  received  from  you.  I  have  been  dreadfully 
forlorn  these  many  months  and  sorely  perplexed  and 
tried. 

Think  of  it!!  Not  a  man  in  the  Senate  with  whom  I 
can  be  on  terms  of  absolute  confidence.  Our  Wisconsin 
friend  and  former  associate  seems  somehow  to  be  cowed, 
and  our  Delaware  friend  has  only  spasmodic  self- 


90 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


assertion  and  generally  is  in  doubt  as  to  the  correctness 
of  what  I  do  or  want  to  do.  Not  one  of  them  comes  to 
me  on  public  business  unless  sent  for  and  then  full  of 
reservations  and  doubt.  We  are  very  far  apart  in  feeling 
and,  it  seems  to  me,  in  purposes.  I  am  on  the  whole  glad 
you  are  not  among  them.  Your  efforts  to  stem  the  tide 
would  only  hurt  and  grieve  you.  And  yet  I  must  not 
forget  the  opportunity  you  would  have  to  add  glory  to 
your  patriotic  career  and  raise  the  hopes  and  inspire  the 
faith  of  your  Countrymen.  I  am  sorry  the  malevolent 
change  in  our  public  life  since  you  and  I  worked  together 
here,  has  been  made  known  to  me.  I  am  sure  you  cannot 
fully  realize  it. 

I  have  at  my  side  a  Cabinet  composed  of  pure-minded, 
patriotic  and  thoroughly  loyal  men.  I  sometimes  feel 
guilty  when  I  recall  the  troubles  I  have  induced  them  to 
share  with  me.  In  our  hand  to  hand  conflict  our  triumphs 
are  many  but  I  am  afraid  as  we  triumph  our  party  loses 
and  the  Country  does  not  gain  as  it  should;  and  yet  what 
would  the  condition  be  without  us? 

You  may  be  surprised  to  learn  that  in  all  the  dark¬ 
ness  I  have  never  lost  the  feeling  that  the  American  peo¬ 
ple  and  I  have  a  perfectly  fair  understanding. 

I  do  not  believe  you  will  think  me  vain  and  foolish 
if  I  say  to  you  that  I  ought  to  be  and  am  profoundly 
grateful  for  a  guidance  which  has  thus  far  kept  me  from 
pitfalls.  God  knows  I  cannot  bear  mistakes  now. 

Our  friends  at  the  Capitol  have  blindly  wandered  into 
a  close  trap  on  the  financial  question.  To-day  the  House 
Ways  and  Means  Committee  expect  a  bill  for  gold  bonds, 
and  the  Senate  is  thrashing  about  in  a  way  that  is  pitiable. 
In  the  meantime  the  administration  is  lightened  from  a 
heavy  load  by  our  last  arrangement  for  the  procure¬ 
ment  of  gold.  I  have  not  a  doubt  that  we  shall  be  free 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  9 1 

from  anxiety  on  that  score  for  a  good  long  breathing 
spell. 

That  trouble  over,  another  looms  up.  I  do  not  see 
how  I  can  make  myself  responsible  for  such  a  departure 
from  our  traditions  as  is  involved  in  an  appropriation  in 
the  Diplomatic  bill,  for  building  a  cable  by  the  Govern¬ 
ment  to  Hawaii.  The  Senate  has  thus  amended  the 
House  bill.  The  House  will  stubbornly  oppose  and  resist 
it  and  I  hope  it  will  be  disposed  of  in  conference  and 
rejected.  If  it  is  not,  another  conflict  will  be  forced  upon 
me.  I  hear  to-day  that  the  claim  is  made  that  I  have 
heretofore  expressed  myself  favorably  towards  such  a 
scheme.  I  suppose  this  claim  is  based  upon  references 
to  the  usefulness  of  telegraph  communication  between  us 
and  Hawaii  in  my  annual  messages  of  1886  and  1888. 
Whatever  inferences  are  attempted  to  be  drawn  from 
those  expressions  I  do  not  believe  we  should  in  present 
circumstances  boom  the  annexation  craze  by  entering 
upon  Government  cable  building. 

I  long  for  the  4th  of  March  to  come  with  no  necessity 
in  sight  for  a  special  session.  We  shall  not  need  it  for 
the  purpose  of  making  another  effort  to  bridge  or  cure 
financial  troubles. 

I  need  not  say  to  you  that  I  shall  be  delighted  at  all 
times  to  hear  from  you.  I  am  surprised  to  see  how  sen¬ 
sibly  the  English  papers  treat  our  situation  as  manifested 
by  the  clippings  you  sent  me. 

I  trust  you  will  be  alert  to  discover  any  growing  in¬ 
clination  in  England  to  deal  with  the  silver  question  inter¬ 
nationally,  and  advise  us  if  you  see  a  propitious  opening. 

Mrs.  Cleveland  and  the  babies  are  well.  God  be 
praised  for  that!  I  often  think  that  if  things  should  go 
wrong  in  that  end  of  the  house,  I  should  abandon  the  ship. 

If  she  were  not  in  bed  and  asleep,  Mrs.  Cleveland 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


92 

would  send  her  love  to  you  and  Mrs.  Bayard.  Mine 
goes  anyway. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  T.  F.  Bayard, 

U.  S.  Embassy, 

London,  England. 

As  the  opposition  studied  the  situation  created  by  the 
Morgan  contract  and  the  President’s  message,  it  saw  how 
cleverly  Mr.  Cleveland  had  chosen  his  position.  There 
now  appeared  no  hope  of  defeating  his  main  purpose, 
for  the  bonds  had  been  sold  and  $65,116,244.62  had  been 
thereby  secured  for  the  gold  reserve.  But  the  presenta¬ 
tion  of  a  joint  resolution,  designed  to  make  the  new  bonds 
specifically  payable  in  gold,  and  known  to  be  of  executive 
origin,  offered  them  a  chance  to  present  their  views,  and 
to  balk  him  of  complete  success.  Attack  upon  this  joint 
resolution  was  rendered  easier  by  the  fact  that  Congress 
had  rejected  a  similar  proposition  a  few  hours  before  the 
Morgan-Cleveland  interview. 

In  describing  the  debate,  the  New  York  Herald  cor¬ 
respondent  wrote:  “Mr.  Bryan,  of  Nebraska,  amused  the 
House  by  offering  himself  as  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  free 
coinage  and  cheap  dollars,  declaring  that  he  would  will¬ 
ingly  give  up  his  life  to  secure  the  defeat  of  the  pending 
resolution.”  He  declared  that  the  President’s  suggestion 
to  make  the  bonds  payable  in  gold  was  the  first  instance  in 
which  a  bribe  had  been  offered  to  our  people  by  foreign 
money  lenders.  “They  come  to  us,”  he  said,  “with  the 
insolent  proposition,  ‘We  will  give  you  $16,000,000,  pay¬ 
ing  a  proportionate  amount  each  year,  if  the  United  States 
will  change  its  financial  policy  to  suit  us.’  ” 

In  this  opposition  Mr.  Bryan  was  joined  not  only  by 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  93 

silver  Democrats,  silver  Republicans,  and  Populists,  but 
also  by  some  sound  money  men,  who  objected  either  to 
the  terms  of  the  Morgan-Belmont-Rothschild  contract 
itself,  or  to  the  idea  of  such  a  contract,  whatever  its  terms. 
When  the  vote  came,  therefore,  it  was  a  crushing  defeat 
for  the  President’s  policy,  94  Democrats,  63  Republi¬ 
cans,  and  10  Populists  constituting  the  opposition  in  a 
vote  of  167  to  120.  In  consequence,  the  bonds  of  the 
syndicate  issue  bore  four  per  cent  instead  of  three  per 
cent  interest;  though  the  premium  allowed  under  the 
contract  made  the  interest,  in  effect,  only  three  and  three 
quarters  per  cent,  and  the  United  States  paid  $549,159  a 
year  for  thirty  years,  or  a  total  of  $16,474,770,  as  the  price 
of  William  Jennings  Bryan’s  first  victory  over  Grover 
Cleveland. 

After  consultation  together,  the  President  and  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  decided  not  to  insist  upon  the 
literal  fulfilment  of  the  Morgan  promise,  that  “at  least 
one  half  of  the  gold  .  .  .  be  supplied  from  abroad” ;  “but 
the  remainder  of  the  contract,”  to  quote  Mr.  Cleveland 
himself,  was  “so  well  carried  out  .  .  .  that  during  its 
continuance  the  operation  of  ‘the  endless  chain’  .  .  .  was 
interrupted.  No  gold  was,  during  that  period,  taken 
from  the  Treasury  to  be  used  in  the  purchase  of  bonds, 
as  had  previously  been  the  case,  nor  was  any  withdrawn 
for  shipment  abroad.” 

As  soon  as  the  bonds  came  into  the  possession  of  their 
purchasers,  Morgan,  Belmont,  and  the  Rothschilds,  the 
lack  of  confidence  which  had  forced  the  United  States 
Government  to  sell  its  second  issue  at  a  rate  lower  than 
its  first  disappeared.  Indeed,  the  public,  confident  that 
the  bonds  were  now  secure  of  payment  in  gold,  showed 
an  astonishing  eagerness  to  purchase  them. 

The  original  syndicate  formed  a  second  syndicate, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


94 

taking  in  certain  other  prominent  banks,  international 
bankers,  and  gold  importers.  This  second  syndicate  took 
over  the  entire  issue  of  bonds  and,  on  February  20th, 
offered  them  for  public  sale,  the  bidding  beginning  in 
London  and  New  York  at  the  same  hour.  The  scenes 
recall  the  one  in  Philadelphia,  when  shares  of  the  first 
United  States  Bank  were  offered  to  the  public  by  Secre¬ 
tary  of  the  Treasury,  Alexander  Hamilton.  Men 
crowded,  cursed  and  struggled  for  a  place  in  the  line  of 
those  eager  to  pay  for  bonds  which  their  indiffer¬ 

ence  had  forced  their  President  to  sell  to  the  syndicate 
at  104^  only  a  few  days  before.  Mr.  Morgan  personally 
supervised  the  bids  at  his  office,  and  in  twenty-two  min¬ 
utes  gave  the  signal  that  the  sale  was  over;  but  for  hours 
thereafter  men  held  their  places  in  the  hope  that  they 
might  yet  be  able  to  purchase.  In  London  a  similar  scene 
was  enacted,  Rothschild  &  Sons  receiving  fifteen  times 
as  many  applications  as  they  were  able  to  fill.  Thus  the 
bankers,  as  a  result  of  the  confidence  which  their  confi¬ 
dence  had  restored,  reaped  a  full  harvest. 

These  operations  resulted,  of  course,  in  bitter  denun¬ 
ciations  of  the  President,  who  was  assailed  as  the  friend 
of  robbers,  enriching  himself  from  the  treasury  of  the 
nation  over  which  he  was  called  upon  to  rule,  and  opening 
its  vaults  to  the  sinister  influence  of  the  great  unscrupu¬ 
lous  banking  concerns  of  the  world.  His  enemies  seized 
every  item  which  could  be  distorted  into  a  pretext  for 
abuse.  His  friendship  with  Commodore  Benedict,  of  the 
Chicago  Gas  Trust,  was  cited  as  a  suspicious  circum¬ 
stance,  and  as  wild  tales  spread  throughout  the  land, 
Populism  grew  in  the  West  in  exact  proportion  as  they 
were  believed,  Bryan’s  spiritual  kinsfolk  whispering  the 
alarming  rumor  that  Grover  Cleveland  was  not  a  Demo- 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  95 

crat,  but  a  Republican,  a  rich  spoilsman  dividing  the 
spoil  with  the  strong. 

But  the  third  issue  of  bonds  could  no  more  perma¬ 
nently  save  the  financial  situation  than  had  the  second, 
and  soon  the  “endless  chain”  again  began  to  work.  In 
his  third  annual  message  (December  2,  1895),  therefore, 
the  President  again  pleaded  with  Congress  for  a  law 
which  would  make  the  gold  standard  safe,  but  he  pleaded 
in  vain. 

In  his  anxiety  to  find  some  way  to  restore  public  con¬ 
fidence,  he  suggested:  “The  only  thorough  and  practi¬ 
cable  remedy  ...  is  found  in  the  retirement  and  can¬ 
cellation  of  our  United  States  notes,  commonly  called 
greenbacks,  and  the  outstanding  Treasury  notes  issued 
by  the  Government  in  payment  of  silver  purchases  under 
the  [Sherman]  Act  of  1890.  I  believe  this  could  be 
readily  accomplished  by  the  exchange  of  these  notes  for 
United  States  bonds,  of  small  as  well  as  large  denomina¬ 
tions,  bearing  a  low  rate  of  interest.”  He  urged  also  that 
authority  be  “given  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
dispose  of  the  bonds  abroad  for  gold  if  necessary  to  com¬ 
plete  the  contemplated  redemption  and  cancellation.” 

As  the  cancellation  of  so  large  an  amount  of  currency 
would  produce  a  dangerous  financial  stringency  unless 
its  place  were  immediately  filled  by  some  other  kind  of 
money,  he  suggested  that  “the  currency  withdrawn  .  .  . 
might  be  supplied  by  such  gold  as  would  be  used  on 
their  retirement  or  by  an  increase  in  the  circulation  of 
our  national  banks.”  And  he  added  a  suggestion,  which 
shows  how  little  he  objected  to  silver  dollars  as  currency 
or  to  the  coining  of  the  seigniorage  under  safe  conditions : 
“I  do  not  overlook  the  fact  that  the  cancellation  of  the 
Treasury  notes  .  .  .  would  leave  the  Treasury  in  the 
actual  ownership  of  sufficient  silver,  including  seigni- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


96 

orage,  to  coin  nearly  $178,000,000  in  standard  dollars. 
It  is  worthy  of  consideration  whether  this  might  not  from 
time  to  time  be  converted  into  dollars  or  fractional  coin 
and  slowly  put  into  circulation.” 

The  moment  another  bond  issue  was  suggested,  the 
campaign  of  misrepresentation  and  recrimination  began 
again.  Not  satisfied  with  the  vast  proceeds  of  deals  al¬ 
ready  made  with  the  robber  barons,  his  opponents 
declared,  he  is  now  planning  again  to  open  the  people’s 
treasury  to  their  exploitation.  At  this  critical  moment 
the  situation  was  suddenly  rendered  far  more  critical  by 
the  Venezuelan  crisis.  On  December  17,  1895,  President 
Cleveland’s  startling  Venezuelan  message  went  to  Con¬ 
gress,  and  the  menace  of  war  accelerated  the  flight  of 
gold. 

In  view  of  the  situation  thus  complicated  almost  be¬ 
yond  precedent,  the  President  urged  Congress  not  to  take 
a  Christmas  recess  until  they  had  done  something  to  put 
the  country  upon  a  solid  financial  basis.  But  the  hour 
for  recess  was  at  hand  and,  as  Mr.  Cleveland  later  scorn¬ 
fully  commented,  “it  should  not  have  been  expected  that 
members  of  Congress  would  permit  troublesome  thoughts 
of  the  Government’s  financial  difficulties  to  disturb  the 
pleasant  anticipations  of  their  holiday  recess.”  Without 
giving  the  least  heed  to  the  President’s  plea,  Congress  dis¬ 
persed  for  its  brief  Christmas  recess,  leaving  him  to  cope 
with  the  situation  as  best  he  could. 

But  Wall  Street,  less  eager  for  vacation,  worked  while 
Congress  celebrated.  On  Monday,  December  23d,  Rob¬ 
ert  Bacon,  of  the  firm  of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  made  a 
trip  to  Washington,  accompanied  by  the  President’s  late 
law  partner,  Francis  Lynde  Stetson,  to  be  joined  within 
a  few  hours  by  Mr.  Morgan  himself. 

“During  my  visit,”  Mr.  Morgan  later  explained, 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  97 

“.  .  .  no  negotiations  for  a  loan  were  commenced  or  even 
suggested,  nor  was  there  then  or  since  any  agreement  or 
request  that  I  should  take  any  steps  preparatory  to  mak¬ 
ing  a  contract.  The  result  of  my  visit  was  that  I  came 
to  the  following  conclusions : 

“First. — That  the  President  and  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  were  determined  to  use  every  power  at  their 
command  to  restore  and  maintain  the  gold  reserve. 

“Second. — That  no  steps  would  be  taken  or  even  any 
preparatory  negotiations  commenced  until  it  was  ascer¬ 
tained  what  action,  if  any,  Congress  would  be  likely  to 
take  in  response  to  the  appeal  of  the  President  for  ade¬ 
quate  and  improved  means  for  making  such  restoration. 

“Third. — That  the  Executive  Department  would  pre¬ 
fer,  if  possible,  to  secure  $200,000,000  of  gold  in  order 
to  avoid  any  probable  necessity  for  similar  negotiations 
before  the  meeting  of  the  new  Congress  in  1897. 

“Fourth. — That  it  was  absolutely  certain  that  no  ade¬ 
quate  relief  could  be  obtained  from  Congress,  and  that  no 
bill  could  be  passed  through  the  Senate  for  the  improve¬ 
ment  of  the  monetary  system  of  the  country. 

“Upon  my  return,  appreciating  to  the  full  the  gravity 
of  the  situation,  and  keenly  alive  to  the  fact  that  early 
action  was  essential,  and  in  order  that  I  might  be  pre¬ 
pared,  if  called  upon  to  act  promptly,  I  took  steps  to 
ascertain  to  what  extent  it  would  be  possible  to  secure 
the  co-operation  of  capitalists,  institutions,  and  others  in 
forming  a  syndicate  which  would  agree  to  sell  to  the 
United  States  Government  $200,000,000  of  gold  coin. 

“In  my  efforts,  while  far  from  sanguine  as  to  the 
result,  the  ready  acquiescence  of  James  Stillman,  Esq., 
President  of  the  National  City  Bank,  New  York,  Edward 
D.  Adams,  Esq.,  with  full  power  representing  the 
Deutsche  Bank  of  Berlin,  Germany;  John  A.  Stewart, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


98 

Esq.,  President  [of  the]  United  States  Trust  Company, 
Pliny  Fisk,  Esq.,  of  Messrs.  Harvey  Fisk  &  Sons,  and 
others  .  .  .  encouraged  me  to  proceed. 

“The  contract,  as  prepared  and  signed  by  the  par¬ 
ticipants,  did  not  stipulate  whether  the  purchase  should 
be  by  private  contract  or  by  public  offer.  The  only  pro¬ 
viso  (in  addition  to  the  important  one  that  no  gold  should 
be  withdrawn  from  the  Treasury)  was  that  the  minimum 
amount  of  the  contract  should  be  $100,000,000  and  the 
maximum  .  .  .  not  exceeding  $200,000,000.  ...  At  the 
end  of  three  or  four  days  the  total  of  $200,000,000  was 
reached,  and  I  had  in  my  hands  full  authority  which 
would  enable  me,  whenever  and  however  the  Executive 
might  decide  to  act,  to  secure  that  amount  of  gold  for 
the  Treasury  reserve  in  exchange  for  United  States 
Bonds.  .  .  . 

“The  formation  of  the  syndicate  being  completed,  I 
commenced  negotiations  for  the  permanent  placing  of  a 
portion  of  the  loan  by  public  issue  in  Europe,  should  a 
contract  with  the  Government  be  made.” 

News  of  Mr.  Morgan’s  negotiations  was  soon  abroad, 
and  was  wrongly  interpreted  by  many  of  the  papers  of  the 
country  as  evidence  of  a  secret  agreement  between  the 
President  and  Wall  Street. 

The  New  York  World  of  January  3,  1896,  under  the 
heading,  “Grover  Cleveland’s  Golden  Opportunity, 
Smash  the  Ring,”  declared:  “This  bargain  has  been 
made  with  a  suspicious  secrecy  which  has  been  guarded 
by  a  picket  line  of  falsehoods  put  forth  for  the  mislead¬ 
ing  of  the  people.  It  is  a  bargain  between  yourself  in 
your  official  capacity  and  your  near  friends.  It  promises 
to  give  princely  millions  of  the  people’s  money  to  those 
friends,  and  that  without  any  need.  .  .  .  You  must  see, 
Mr.  Cleveland,  that  secrecy  of  negotiation  under  such  cir- 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN 


99 

cumstances  is  bound  to  excite  suspicion.  You  must  real¬ 
ize  that  men  are  already  saying  things  which  the  news¬ 
papers  as  yet  hesitate  to  print.” 

The  editorial  further  announced  the  World's  readi¬ 
ness  to  purchase  one  million  of  the  bonds  on  a  three  per 
cent  basis,  and  ventured  to  assure  the  President  that  there 
were  thousands  of  others  willing  to  take  a  similar  course, 
if  given  the  opportunity.  “Trust  the  People,  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land!  Appeal  to  them!  Smash  the  gold  ring!”  it  urged. 

This  attitude  of  the  World ,  far  from  helping  matters, 
made  more  difficult  the  task  of  accomplishing  the  pur¬ 
poses  of  the  Government,  and  the  next  day  Mr.  Morgan 
addressed  to  the  President  the  following  letter,  which 
shows  how  far  the  World  was  from  a  knowledge  of  the 
facts: 


New  York,  219  Madison  Avenue. 

January  4 ,  1 896. 


To  the  President, 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Sir: 


It  is  with  great  hesitation  that  I  venture  to  address 
you  in  relation  to  the  present  financial  situation. 

As  you  are  doubtless  aware  financial  affairs  are  ap¬ 
proaching  a  serious  crisis,  and  the  tension  today  is 
extreme,  and,  whilst  no  outward  evidences  have  de¬ 
veloped,  we  are  likely  at  any  moment  to  reach  the  point, 
and  consequences,  which  it  will  then  be  too  late  to  remedy. 
The  gravity  of  the  situation  must  be  my  excuse. 

The  most  important  step  at  the  moment  is  the  restora¬ 
tion  of  Government  credit,  by  placing  the  amount  of 
the  gold  reserve  in  the  Treasury  beyond  question.  This 
once  accomplished  confidence  both  at  home  and  abroad 
in  the  stability  of  our  currency  will  be  restored. 


IOO 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


After  my  recent  visit  to  Washington  I  became  con¬ 
vinced  that  any  legislative  action  to  improve  the  methods 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Executive  was  unlikely,  in  fact 
impossible.  I  therefore  took  steps  to  ascertain  whether 
it  would  be  possible  to  obtain  the  cooperation  of  parties 
at  home  and  abroad  to  an  extent  that  would  enable  me 
to  negotiate  a  contract  with  the  Government  for  the  sale 
of  11,500,000  ounces  of  gold  approximating  200,000,000 
of  Dollars  on  about  the  basis  of  the  contract  of  February 
8th,  1895.  In  this  effort  I  have  been  successful  and  am 
now  in  a  position  to  make  such  a  contract  for  the  full 
amount. 

I  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm,  in  fact  to  urge,  that  such 
a  contract  would  in  every  way  be  for  the  best  interests 
of  the  Government  and  the  people,  and  would  be  fol¬ 
lowed  by  less  derangement  of  the  money  market,  of  trade, 
in  fact  of  all  interests,  including  foreign  exchanges,  which 
until  recently  were  in  such  an  increasingly  prosperous 
condition,  and  I  urge  your  serious  consideration  of  such 
a  contract. 

At  the  same  time  I  recognize  the  effect  of  legislation 
which  has  been  proposed  and  the  discussions  thereupon  in 
both  houses  of  Congress,  all  of  which  might  lead  you  to 
hesitate  to  make  a  private  contract,  and,  consequently,  in 
view  of  the  gravity  of  the  situation,  I  feel  bound  to  say, 
that  if  after  a  conference,  in  which  I  can  more  fully  lay 
the  matter  before  you,  and  without  expressing  any  confi¬ 
dence  in  such  a  mode  of  procedure  in  face  of  previous 
failures  of  similar  attempts,  but  recognizing  as  I  do  that 
the  responsibility  of  decision  lies  with  you,  I  pledge  to 
you  every  influence  and  effort  in  my  power  to  assist  the 
Government  in  its  endeavor  to  make  successful  a  negotia¬ 
tion  by  public  advertisement  which  shall  result  in  the 
sale  to  the  Treasury  of  11,500,000  ounces  United  States 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  IOI 

gold  coin  ($200,000,000),  and  further,  I  will  so  far  as  I 
possibly  can,  take  such  steps  as  will  enable  the  Syndicate 
which  I  represent  to  join  in  making  the  negotiation  suc¬ 
cessful  to  its  full  amount. 

Awaiting  the  indication  of  your  pleasure,  I  remain, 

Respectfully  yours, 

J.  Pierpont  Morgan. 

Meanwhile,  the  Christmas  recess  over,  Congressmen 
and  Senators  returned  to  their  seats,  armed  with  copies 
of  the  World's  attack  upon  the  President,  and  there  began 
a  strange  debate,  a  strife  of  words  with  a  sensational  news¬ 
paper  article  as  the  chief  arsenal  from  which  was  drawn 
ammunition  for  both  offense  and  defense.  Senator  Sher¬ 
man  declared  that  “while  Congress  has,  perhaps  too  hast¬ 
ily,  but  with  entire  unanimity,  supported  the  President 
in  maintaining  the  interests  and  honor  of  our  country  in 
the  field  of  diplomacy,  it  has  not  and  will  not  approve 
his  recommendations  on  the  more  important  subject  of 
our  financial  policy,  and  especially  of  our  currency.  It 
will  not  approve  his  secret  bond  syndicate  contract.” 
Senator  Elkins,  of  West  Virginia,  introduced  a  resolu¬ 
tion  “directing  the  disposal  of  bonds  by  public  sale  to 
the  highest  bidder,”  his  speech  in  defense  of  this  insult 
being  frankly  based  upon  hearsay  and  newspaper  history. 
Senator  Hill,  in  defense  of  what  he  supposed  to  be  the 
intentions  of  the  administration,  questioned  whether  the 
public  would  purchase  the  bonds  if  offered  to  them. 
“There  have  been  assertions,”  he  cried,  “but  assertions 
are  not  backed  with  proof.  Let  these  people  who  want 
bonds  come  forward  and  say  so.  Where  are  they?  The 
sole  person  to  come  forward  so  far  is  Mr.  Pulitzer  of  the 
World .  So  far  so  good.  Where  are  the  persons  to  take 
the  other  $49,000,000  of  a  loan?”  This  defense  was 


102 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


gravely  answered  by  Senator  Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  who 

spoke  World  in  hand,  and  without  the  thorough  knowl- 

* 

edge  of  the  facts  which  the  country  was  entitled  to  expect 
from  this  scholar-statesman. 

After  reading  with  astonishment  the  debates  concern¬ 
ing  his  reputed  intentions,  Mr.  Cleveland  sent  to  Senator 
Caffery  the  following  statement: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

Jan .  5,  1896 . 

My  dear  Senator : 

I  have  read  to-day  in  the  Congressional  Record  the 
debate  in  the  Senate  on  Friday  concerning  the  financial 
situation  and  the  bond  issue.  I  am  amazed  at  the  intoler-  . 
ance  that  leads  even  excited  partisanship  to  adopt  as  a 
basis  of  attack  the  unfounded  accusations  and  assertions 
of  a  maliciously  mendacious  and  sensational  newspaper. 

No  banker  or  financier,  nor  any  other  human  being, 
has  been  invited  to  Washington  for  the  purpose  of  ar¬ 
ranging  in  any  way  or  manner  for  the  disposition  of 
bonds  to  meet  the  present  or  future  needs  of  the  gold 
reserve.  No  arrangement  of  any  kind  has  been  made 
for  the  disposition  of  such  bonds  to  any  syndicate  or 
through  the  agency  of  any  syndicate.  No  assurance  of 
such  a  disposal  of  bonds  has  been  directly  or  indirectly 
given  to  any  person.  In  point  of  fact,  a  decided  leaning 
toward  a  popular  loan  and  advertising  for  bids  has  been 
plainly  exhibited  on  the  part  of  the  administration  at 
all  times  when  the  subject  was  under  discussion. 

Those  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  maintaining 
our  gold  reserve,  so  far  as  legislation  renders  it  possible, 
have  anxiously  conferred  with  each  other,  and,  as  occa¬ 
sion  permitted,  with  those  having  knowledge  of  financial 
affairs  and  present  monetary  conditions  as  to  the  best  and 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  IO3 

most  favorable  means  of  selling  bonds  for  gold.  The 
unusual  importance  of  a  successful  result,  if  the  attempt 
is  again  made,  ought  to  be  apparent  to  every  American 
citizen  who  bestows  upon  the  subject  a  moment’s  patriotic 
thought. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  from  the  first  moment 
that  a  necessity  for  the  sale  of  another  issue  of  bonds 
seemed  to  be  approaching,  desired  to  offer  them,  if  issued, 
to  the  people,  by  public  advertisement,  if  they  could  thus 
be  successfully  disposed  of.  After  full  consideration  he 
came  to  the  conclusion,  with  which  I  fully  agree,  that  the 
amount  of  gold  in  reserve,  being  now  $20,000,000  more 
than  it  was  in  February  last,  when  a  sale  of  bonds  was 
made  to  a  syndicate,  and  other  conditions  differing  from 
those  then  existing,  justify  us  in  offering  the  bonds  now 
about  to  be  issued  for  sale  by  popular  subscription.  This 
is  the  entire  matter,  and  all  these  particulars  could  have 
been  easily  obtained  by  any  member  of  the  Senate  by 
simply  inquiring. 

If  Mr.  Morgan,  or  anyone  else,  reasoning  from  his 
own  standpoint,  brought  himself  to  the  belief  that  the 
government  would  at  length  be  constrained  to  again  sell 
bonds  to  a  syndicate,  I  suppose  he  would  have  a  perfect 
right,  if  he  chose,  to  take  such  steps  as  seemed  to  him  pru¬ 
dent  to  put  himself  in  condition  to  negotiate. 

I  expect  an  issue  of  bonds  will  be  advertised  for  sale 
to-morrow,  and  that  bids  will  be  invited,  not  only  for 
those  now  allowed  by  law,  but  for  such  other  and  differ¬ 
ent  bonds  as  Congress  may  authorize  during  the  pendency 
of  the  advertisement. 

Not  having  had  an  opportunity  to  confer  with  you  in 
person  since  the  present  session  of  Congress  began,  and 
noticing  your  participation  in  the  debate  of  last  Friday, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


104 

I  have  thought  it  not  amiss  to  put  you  in  possession  of 
the  facts  and  information  herein  contained. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

That  same  day  the  New  York  World  sent  10,370  tele¬ 
grams  to  leading  bankers  of  America,  asking  whether 
they  would  buy  if  the  loan  were  thrown  open  to  popular 
subscription,  and  5,300  replies  were  received,  ranging 
in  length  from  300  to  600  words  each.  They  filled  three 
full  pages  of  the  World ,  printed  in  the  finest  type.  Some 
answered  yes,  some  answered  no,  but  the  question  re¬ 
mained:  Who  will  pay  the  highest  price?  And  even  the 
New  York  World  could  not  answer. 

On  January  6,  1896,  Secretary  Carlisle  announced  a 
new  thirty-year  four  per  cent  loan,  not  for  $200,000,000 
as  Mr.  Morgan  expected,  but  for  $100,000,000.  This 
made  the  syndicate  contract  available  only  to  bid  for  all 
or  none,  owing  to  the  minimum  therein  set.  Therefore 
Mr.  Morgan,  “unwilling  to  make  such  a  bid  under  pres¬ 
ent  circumstances,”  as  he  told  his  associates,  decided  to 
dissolve  the  syndicate.  Feeling,  however,  that  the  knowl¬ 
edge  of  its  existence  would  tend  to  make  this  popular 
loan  a  success,  he  did  not  actually  effect  the  dissolution 
until  January  14th,  when,  as  he  informed  the  bankers  con¬ 
cerned,  “the  subscriptions  by  individuals  and  others,  in¬ 
cluding  many  of  the  syndicate  whom  I  have  encouraged 
to  subscribe,  from  present  indications,  will  insure  the 
complete  success  of  the  issue.” 

The  test  of  public  faith  came,  however,  with  the  bid¬ 
ding.  A  month  was  allowed  for  the  process,  during 
which  4635  bids  were  received  from  forty-seven  states 
and  territories.  As  the  advertisements  had  promised,  the 
bonds  were  awarded  to  the  highest  bidders,  but  only  827 


BREAKING  THE  ENDLESS  CHAIN  10$ 

proved  higher  than  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  and  Co.  To 
these  accordingly  was  awarded  $62,321,150  worth  of 
bonds.  The  rest  of  the  issue  went  to  Mr.  Morgan  and  his 
associates,  not  by  the  will  of  the  President,  but  by  the  will 
of  the  people  who  had  failed  to  display  the  faith  in  the 
nation’s  bonds  which  the  bankers  displayed.  Nor  were 
the  gains  of  the  bankers  excessive,  especially  as,  had  the 
gold  standard  failed,  their  bonds  would  have  been  paid 
in  silver,  worth  only  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar.  In  subse¬ 
quent  hearings  before  a  Congressional  Committee,  it  was 
shown  that  they  made  five  per  cent  upon  their  actual 
investment. 

This  transaction  successfully  ended  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  experiments  in  the  history  of  finance.  Had 
the  run  on  the  Treasury  continued  one  month  longer,  the 
possibility  of  gold  payments  would  have  ceased.  On  the 
last  day  of  January,  1896,  the  gold  reserve  had  dropped 
below  $50,000,000.  At  the  end  of  February  it  stood  at 
$124,000,000.  By  a  single  issue  of  bonds  $111,000,000 
had  been  added  to  the  gold  reserve. 

Thus,  during  that  second  term,  which  Senator  Stew¬ 
art,  to  the  delight  of  his  Populist  friends,  pronounced 
probably  the  worst  that  ever  occurred  in  this  or  any  other 
country,  President  Cleveland  accomplished  what  he  him¬ 
self  and  most  of  his  countrymen  later  considered  his  great- 
est  service  to  the  American  people,  and  the  credit  belongs 
almost  exclusively  to  him.  Congress  had  refused  help, 
the  Democratic  and  Populist  parties  had  withheld  sym¬ 
pathy,  and  the  Republicans  had  cynically  avoided  respon¬ 
sibility.  But  by  an  ingenious  interpretation  of  executive 
power  based  upon  laws  which  could  not  be  repudiated, 
Mr.  Cleveland  had,  within  two  years,  added  all  told 
$293,000,000  of  gold  to  the  reserve  fund  by  the  creation 
of  a  debt  of  only  $262,000,000. 


io6 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


The  fourth  bond  issue  was  the  last  ever  made  in  time 
of  peace,  for  so  thoroughly  was  the  work  accomplished 
that  even  the  panic  which  swept  over  the  country  during 
the  political  crisis  of  the  following  summer  could  not 
again  drag  the  gold  reserve  to  the  danger  point.  The 
endless  chain  was  broken. 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF 


"A  tariff  for  any  other  purpose  than  public  revenue  is  pub¬ 
lic  robbery ” 


— Grover  Cleveland. 


THOUGH  forced  by  circumstances  to  fight  the  first 
great  battle  of  his  second  administration  in  the  in¬ 
terest  of  sound  money,  Mr.  Cleveland  had  not  for  a 
moment  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  he  had  been  restored 
to  power  upon  the  basis  of  a  definite  pledge  to  overthrow 
the  McKinley  tariff  and  substitute  one  built  upon  the 
opposite  principle.  The  very  platform  upon  which  he 
had  won  his  second  term  denounced  protection  as  fraud, 
and  the  McKinley  tariff  as  “the  culminating  atrocity  of 
class  legislation.”  That  this  tariff  had  brought  not  pros¬ 
perity  but  hard  times,  the  President,  in  his  first  annual 
message  (December  4,  1893)  attempted  to  prove,  citing 
the  estimates  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  which  fore¬ 
cast  a  deficit  of  $28,000,000. 

The  Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  pointed  with 
pride  to  a  surplus  of  over  two  and  a  quarter  millions  for 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1893,  and  attributed  the  failing 
revenue  and  hard  times  to  a  general  distrust  of  Demo¬ 
cratic  rule.  They  felt  it  wise  also  to  await  the  results 
of  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Law  before  complicating 
the  situation  by  “tinkering  with  the  tariff.”  Their  pleas 
for  further  delay,  however,  were  discounted  by  the  Presi¬ 
dent  as  selfish  attempts  to  continue  the  McKinley  system 
of  special  favors,  despite  the  recent  verdict  of  the  people, 

107 


io8 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


and  in  this  same  first  annual  message  he  squarely  faced 
the  new  Congress  with  a  statement  of  its  duty: 

“If  there  is  anything  in  the  theory  of  a  representa- 
tion  in  public  places,”  he  declared,  .  .  if  public  offi¬ 
cers  are  really  the  servants  of  the  people  .  .  .  our  failure 
to  give  the  relief  so  long  awaited  will  be  sheer  recreancy. 
Nothing  should  intervene  to  distract  our  attention  or  dis¬ 
turb  our  effort  until  this  reform  is  accomplished.” 

Mr.  Cleveland  was  confident  that  sufficient  revenue 
could  be  collected  under  a  tariff  allowing  free  raw  ma¬ 
terials  to  American  factories,  and  only  the  necessity  of 
revenue  justified  the  imposition  of  tariff  duties,  according 
to  his  economic  creed.  He  argued  that  free  raw  materials 
would  mean  cheaper  necessities,  greater  regularity  of  em¬ 
ployment,  a  wider  market,  and  a  settled  prosperity,  thus 
enabling  the  people  easily  to  supply  the  revenue  needed 
for  an  economical  administration  of  the  government. 

“Even  if  the  oft  disproven  assertion  could  be  made 
good  that  a  lower  rate  of  wages  would  result  from  free 
raw  materials  and  low  tariff  duties,”  he  said,  “the  intelli¬ 
gence  of  our  workmen  leads  them  quickly  to  discover 
that  their  steady  employment,  permitted  by  free  raw  ma¬ 
terials,  is  the  most  important  factor  in  their  relation  to 
tariff  legislation.”  With  his  customary  care  for  the  strict 
fulfillment  of  all  governmental  obligations,  by  whomso¬ 
ever  incurred,  he  warned  Congress  against  such  a  revision 
of  the  tariff  as  would  suddenly  endanger  interests  built 
upon  faith  that  protection  would  remain,  and  begged  that 
“unselfish  counsel”  and  a  “willingness  to  subordinate 
personal  desires  and  ambitions  to  the  general  good”  might 
prevail. 

A  tariff  bill,  designed  to  embody  these  ideas,  and  later 
famous  as  the  Wilson  Bill,  had  been  already  prepared,  in 
consultation  with  the  President,  and  was  ready  to  be  pre- 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  109 

jented  to  Congress  when  the  President’s  message  of  De¬ 
cember  4th  was  read.  It  was  not  a  free  trade  measure, 
but  it  was  a  step  in  that  direction.  Lumber,  coal,  iron, 
and  wool  were  placed  on  the  free  list,  and  sugar,  both  raw 
and  refined.  The  duty  was  cut  down  on  woolens,  linens, 
and  cottons,  in  the  shape  of  manufactured  goods.  This 
bill  the  President  commended  to  the  favorable  attention 
of  Congress,  declaring  that  it  dealt  with  the  subject  of 
tariff  “consistently  and  as  thoroughly  as  existing  condi¬ 
tions  permit.”  To  the  clause  providing  for  “a  small  tax 
upon  incomes  derived  from  certain  corporate  invest¬ 
ments,”  he  had,  however,  given  only  a  reluctant  assent,  as 
necessary  to  provide  against  temporary  deficiencies. 

Forty-nine  days  after  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Law, 
this  bill  was  presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
by  William  L.  Wilson,  chairman  of  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee,  and,  as  he  had  expected,  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land  found  himself  facing  another  major  conflict.  The 
free  wool  item  alienated  the  farmers,  as  it  materially 
reduced  their  profits  from  flocks  of  sheep.  Free  iron 
ore  offended  the  mine  owners.  Free  refined  sugar  was 
a  blow  at  the  sugar  trust,  to  which  the  McKinley  Bill 
gave  a  subsidy,  and  which  desired  to  keep  the  duty  upon 
refined  sugar,  while  admitting  raw  sugar  free.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  growers  clamored  for  a  duty  on  raw  sugar 
to  protect  their  crops  from  the  cheap  products  of  foreign 
countries,  and  so,  by  placing  both  classes  of  sugar  on  the 
free  list,  the  bill  added  both  the  sugar  trust  and  the  sugar 
growers  to  the  enemies  created  by  the  income  tax  clause 
and  other  specific  provisions. 

As  the  discussion  in  the  lower  house  proceeded,  how¬ 
ever,  it  became  evident  that  even  such  a  combination  of 
opponents  could  not  defeat  the  Wilson  Bill.  Richard 
Croker  instructed  the  Tammany  Congressmen  to  stand 


no 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


by  the  President’s  policy,  and  to  fight  aggressively  for  the 
bill.  The  President’s  more  regular  supporters  urged 
upon  their  colleagues  in  Congress  the  expediency  of  keep¬ 
ing  the  party’s  pre-election  pledges,  and  warned  them  of 
the  inevitable  consequences  incident  to  their  betrayal.  On 
February  i,  1894,  the  House  passed  the  Wilson  Bill  by  a 
vote  of  182  to  106,  sixty-one  Congressmen  being  absent 
or  otherwise  avoiding  the  record,  and  cheers  from  the 
Democratic  side  indicated  the  belief  that  victory  for  tariff 
reform  was  in  sight. 

But  the  Senate  was  yet  to  act,  and  Mr.  Cleveland  knew 
that  there  his  plea  for  a  “willingness  to  subordinate  per¬ 
sonal  desires  and  ambitions  to  the  general  good”  would 
fall  upon  many  deaf  ears.  There,  as  the  President  had 
learned  to  his  sorrow,  the  interests  stood  intrenched. 
There,  the  administration  majority  was  in  effect  non¬ 
existent,  and  there  was  little  in  the  Wilson  Bill  likely  to 
win  supporters. 

When  the  Populist  Senators  voted  with  the  Demo¬ 
crats,  they  could  together  muster  a  majority  of  nine. 
When  the  Populist  support  went  with  the  Republicans, 
the  Democrats  were  left  with  a  bare  majority  of  three. 
But  upon  questions  directly  interesting  the  President,  as 
did  this,  there  were  certain  to  be  serious  Democratic  de¬ 
fections.  The  free  silver  Senators  were  still  smarting 
under  their  defeat  in  the  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Law. 
The  spoilsmen  hated  him  as  the  President  who  refused 
to  “divide  the  spoils,”  and  the  Senators  of  special  inter¬ 
ests  saw  in  him  only  a  difficult  person  who  could  not 
appreciate  their  arguments. 

What  the  President  saw  in  the  Senate  is  indicated  by 
a  story  which  went  the  rounds,  doubtless  invention  but 
fairly  representing  his  opinion :  One  night  Mr.  Cleveland 
was  roused  from  a  heavy  sleep  by  his  wife,  who  whis- 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF 


dll 


pered,  “Wake  up,  Mr.  Cleveland,  wake  up,  there  are  rob¬ 
bers  in  the  house.”  “Oh,  no,  my  dear,”  replied  the  Presi¬ 
dent,  turning  heavily,  “I  think  you  are  mistaken.  There 
are  no  robbers  in  the  House,  but  there  are  lots  in  the 
Senate.” 

To  the  Senate,  indeed,  the  President’s  plea  for  un¬ 
selfish  counsel  was  like  a  whisper  in  the  teeth  of  a  north 
wind.  Protection  they  understood ;  free  trade  they  feared ; 
but  unselfish  counsel  they  ridiculed.  Louisiana  Senators 
saw  their  duty  through  the  sugar  house;  Maryland,  West 
Virginia,  Alabama,  and  Pennsylvania  Senators  looked  at 
theirs  from  the  mouth  of  the  mine;  Senator  Hill  felt  that 
his  line  of  greatest  political  usefulness  was  in  the  defeat 
of  the  income  tax  clause,  which  touched  his  constituency 
most  closely;  while  his  colleague,  Senator  Murphy,  de¬ 
spite  Tammany’s  instructions,  indulged  in  an  enthusiasm 
for  high  duties  on  collars  and  cuffs,  the  chief  desire  of  the 
leading  political  manipulators  of  his  senatorial  district. 
Senators  Gorman  and  Brice  were  open  to  conviction  re¬ 
garding  the  President’s  tariff  bill;  but  conviction  waited 
upon  the  assurance  that  the  measure  would  be  kind  to 
certain  interests  which  had  been  kind  to  them. 

“The  truth  is,”  later  declared  the  Republican  Senator 
Cullom,  “we  were  all — Democrats  as  well  as  Republicans 
— trying  to  get  in  amendments  in  the  interest  of  protecting 
the  industries  of  our  respective  states.” 

Thus  did  the  United  States  Senate,  whose  glorious  his¬ 
tory  had  justified  the  claim  that  it  was  “the  most  august 
deliberative  body  in  the  world,”  approach  the  task  of  tariff 
revision,  not  to  subordinate  personal  desires  and  ambitions 
to  the  general  good,  but  to  subordinate  the  general  good 
to  personal  desires  and  ambitions.  In  a  spirit  of  live  and 
let  live,  each  Senator  was  allowed  his  slice,  and  as  a  result 


1 12 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


the  Wilson  Bill  lost  its  character  so  shamelessly  as  to  be¬ 
come  almost  unrecognizable. 

The  President  watched,  with  consternation,  the 
process  by  which  the  Senate  was  writing  “private”  upon 
a  public  measure,  designed  to  fulfill  a  public  pledge. 

“When  I  came  here,”  he  wrote  to  L.  Clarke  Davis  on 
February  25th,  “I  knew  perfectly  well  that  there  were 
schemes,  ideas,  policies,  and  men  with  which  and  with 
whom  I  should  be  obliged  to  do  battle,  and  hard  and  try¬ 
ing  battle.  I  thought  the  right  must  win  and  perhaps  I 
relied  too  sentimentally  upon  the  right  to  win.  I  thought 
the  men  who  professed  to  be  willing  to  fight  with  me  were 
sincere  and  earnest. 

“I  still  believe  that  right  will  win  but  I  do  not  now 
believe  that  all  the  men  who  loudly  proclaimed  their 
desire  for  better  things  were  in  earnest. 

“At  any  rate  not  a  few  of  them  are  doing  excellent 
service  in  the  cause  of  the  worst  possible  political  methods 
and  are  aiding  in  bringing  about  the  worst  and  most  dan¬ 
gerous  political  situation.” 

When  at  last  on  July  3d,  the  Wilson  Bill  passed  the 
Senate,  by  a  vote  of  thirty-nine  to  thirty-four,  with  twelve 
Senators  silent,  it  carried  back  to  the  House  and  to  its 
indignant  sponsors,  634  alterations,  many  of  them  funda¬ 
mental  in  character.  The  free  raw  material  idea,  the  very 
essence  of  the  President’s  plan,  had  been  well  nigh  anni¬ 
hilated.  Coal,  sugar,  and  iron  ore  had  been  removed 
from  the  free  list,  while  wool,  lumber,  and  copper  were 
left  to  grace  alone.  * 

There  followed  the  usual  Committee  of  Conference 
which,  however,  failed  to  agree;  and  when,  on  July  19th, 
Mr.  Wilson  rose  to  report  and  repudiate  that  which  he 
had  proudly  called  his  own,  he  presented  to  Congress  a 
letter  which  the  President  had  sent  him  just  as  he  was 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  113 

entering  the  conference,  and  which  he  requested  the  clerk 
to  read  to  the  House.  In  it  Mr.  Cleveland  boldly  de¬ 
nounced  the  Senate  amendments,  the  basis  of  the  confer¬ 
ence,  as  indicative  of  party  perfidy  and  party  dishonor. 
“Every  true  Democrat  and  every  sincere  tariff  reformer,” 
he  declared,  “knows  that  this  bill  in  its  present  form  and 
as  it  will  be  submitted  to  the  conference,  falls  far  short  of 
the  consummation  for  which  we  have  long  labored,  and 
for  which  we  have  suffered  defeat  without  discourage¬ 
ment.”  And  he  warned  the  conferees  of  the  dangers 
which  lay  in  the  pathway  of  those  guilty  of  “the  aban¬ 
donment  of  Democratic  principles.” 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  by  this  letter  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land  designed  to  aid  the  defeat  of  the  Senate’s  amend¬ 
ments.  Although  his  whole  political  philosophy  was 
opposed  to  executive  interference  in  pending  legislation, 
he  felt  that  his  party  in  the  Senate  had  entered  into  a  con¬ 
spiracy  to  violate  a  promise,  made  to  the  people,  and  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  thwart  them,  or  at  least  to  let  the  people 
know  that  he  had  not  connived  with  them.  His  disclaimer 
was  answered  by  Senators  Gorman,  Jones,  and  Vest,  who 
insisted  in  open  Senate  that  the  President  had  approved 
the  changes  which  the  Senate  had  made  in  the  bill. 

In  commenting  on  Senator  Gorman’s  defense  of  the 
amendments,  Mr.  Dickinson  wrote  to  the  President  on 
July  23d: 

“My  dear  Mr.  President: 

“The  Gorman  defense  will  carry  the  hangers-on  .  .  . 
but  will  not  impress  the  strong  men.  .  .  .  Summing  it 
up,  it  is  a  clever  confession  that  the  Senate  bill  is  a  sacri¬ 
fice  of  principle  and  a  surrender  of  everything  we  fought 
for  in  1892.  He  avoids  [responsibility]  by  urging  that  a 
compromise  was  necessary  to  pass  any  bill;  but  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


114 

country  knows  that,  with  the  votes  of  his  coterie,  a  bill  in 
entire  harmony  with  the  platform  would  have  met  with 
the  approval  of  the  Senate  months  ago.  A  compromise 
was  only  necessary  because  he  stood  in  the  way,  and  he  is 
the  man  who  demanded  the  concessions  which  he  deplores 
in  his  argument.  His  witnesses  on  the  other  point — that 
they  did  this  thing  because  you  approved  it — remind  one 
of  Tony  Weller’s  ‘halibi.’  Unspeakably  weak,  and  un¬ 
speakably  infamous  is  his  appeal  to  the  lawless  and  the 
unreflective  on  your  action  in  the  late  labor  troubles. 

“Whatever  the  outcome  at  present,  it  remains  that  for 
the  sake  of  your  supporters  and  friends,  for  the  cause  you 
have  led  since  1884,  for  your  own  place  in  history,  and 
for  your  own  fame,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  for  you 
to  make  the  record  that  you  have  made  on  the  pending 
measure.” 

The  outcome  was  far  from  satisfactory  to  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land,  however.  The  will  of  the  Senate  prevailed  upon 
every  disputed  point,  the  House  yielding  after  long  and 
stubborn  resistance. 

As  soon  as  the  Wilson-Gorman  Tariff  Act,  as  it  was 
now  called,  reached  the  President’s  desk,  advice  was 
offered  him  from  every  side.  The  soundness  of  the  bill, 
its  unspeakable  unsoundness,  and  a  hundred  other  contra¬ 
dictory  points  were  urged,  and  as  he  gave  no  public  indi¬ 
cation  of  his  intentions  regarding  it,  human  ingenuity  was 
soon  taxed  to  the  utmost  in  an  effort  to  show  contempt. 
Among  other  insults,  he  received  ninety-odd  letters  sug¬ 
gesting  that  he  sign  the  tariff  bill  with  the  quill  of  a  crow. 

On  August  23d  Senator  Palmer  warned  him: 

“Your  message  of  1887  made  Tariff  reform  the  lead¬ 
ing  issue.  .  .  .  The  present  Tariff  bill  contains  all  that 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  Il£ 

your  true  friends  in  Congress  were  able  to  obtain.  .  .  . 
If  you  .  .  .  conclude  to  veto  the  bill,  they  can  defend 
you.  ...  If  you  sign  the  bill,  you  thereby  retain  the 
leadership  of  the  Democratic  party.  The  party  can  de¬ 
fend  you  and  itself  by  comparing  the  measure  with  the 
McKinley  Bill.  They  can  point  to  free  wool,  free  lum¬ 
ber,  and  the  large  reductions  upon  the  woolen,  cotton  and 
other  schedules,  and  to  the  abolition  of  the  sugar 
bounty.  „  .  . 

“If  you  allow  the  bill  to  become  a  law  without  your 
signature,  you  abdicate  the  leadership  of  the  Democratic 
party  on  the  issue  that  made  you  President.  .  .  .  The 
commander  of  an  army  and  the  leader  of  a  party  must 
alike  share  the  fortunes  of  their  followers.  The  present 
Tariff  bill  is  a  Democratic  measure.” 

The  President,  however,  did  not  agree  with  Mr. 
Palmer.  The  day  before  the  expiration  of  the  ten  days 
allowed  him  by  law  for  consideration  of  the  bill,  he  sent 
to  Congressman  Catchings  the  following  analysis  of  the 
problem  as  it  appeared  to  him: 


Executive  Mansion,  Washington, 

August  27th,  1894 . 


Hon.  T.  C.  Catchings, 

My  dear  sir : — 

Since  the  conversation  I  had  with  you  and  Mr.  Clark 
of  Alabama  a  few  days  ago,  in  regard  to  my  action  upon 
the  tariff  bill  now  before  me,  I  have  given  the  subject 
further  and  most  serious  consideration.  The  result  is  I 
am  more  settled  than  ever  in  the  determination  to  allow 
the  bill  to  become  a  law  without  my  signature. 

When  the  formulation  of  legislation  which  it  was 
hoped  would  embody  Democratic  ideas  of  tariff  reform 


1 16 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


was  lately  entered  upon  by  Congress,  nothing  was  further 
from  my  anticipation  than  a  result  which  I  could  not 
promptly  and  enthusiastically  endorse. 

It  is  therefore  with  a  feeling  of  the  utmost  disappoint¬ 
ment  that  I  submit  to  a  denial  of  this  privilege. 

I  do  not  claim  to  be  better  than  the  masses  of  my  party, 
nor  do  I  wish  to  avoid  any  responsibility  which,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  passage  of  this  law,  I  ought  to  bear  as  a 
member  of  the  Democratic  organization.  Neither  will  I 
permit  myself  to  be  separated  from  my  party  to  such  an 
extent  as  might  be  implied  by  my  veto  of  tariff  legisla¬ 
tion,  which  though  disappointing,  is  still  chargeable  to 
Democratic  effort.  But  there  are  provisions  in  this  bill 
which  are  not  in  line  with  honest  tariff  reform,  and  it 
contains  inconsistencies  and  crudities  which  ought  not  to 
appear  in  tariff  laws  or  laws  of  any  kind. 

Besides,  there  were,  as  you  and  I  well  know,  incidents 
accompanying  the  passage  of  the  bill  through  the  Con¬ 
gress,  which  made  every  sincere  tariff  reformer  unhappy, 
while  influences  surrounded  it  in  its  latter  stages  and  inter¬ 
fered  with  its  final  construction,  which  ought  not  to  be 
recognized  or  tolerated  in  Democratic  tariff  reform 
counsels. 

And  yet,  notwithstanding  all  its  vicissitudes  and  all 
the  bad  treatment  it  received  at  the  hands  of  pretended 
friends,  it  presents  a  vast  improvement  to  existing  condi¬ 
tions.  It  will  certainly  lighten  many  tariff  burdens  that 
now  rest  heavily  upon  the  people.  It  is  not  only  a  bar¬ 
rier  against  the  return  of  mad  protection,  but  it  furnishes 
a  vantage  ground  from  which  must  be  waged  further 
aggressive  operations  against  protected  monopoly  and 
governmental  favoritism. 

I  take  my  place  with  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  party  who  believe  in  tariff  reform  and  who  know 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  117 

what  it  is,  who  refuse  to  accept  the  results  embodied  in 
this  bill  as  the  close  of  the  war,  who  are  not  blinded  to  the 
fact  that  the  livery  of  Democratic  tariff  reform  has  been 
stolen  and  worn  in  the  service  of  Republican  protection, 
and  who  have  marked  the  places  where  the  deadly  blight 
of  treason  has  blasted  the  counsels  of  the  brave  in  their 
hour  of  might. 

The  trusts  and  combinations — the  communism  of  pelf 
— whose  machinations  have  prevented  us  from  reaching 
the  success  we  deserved,  should  not  be  forgotten  nor  for¬ 
given.  We  shall  recover  from  our  astonishment  at  their 
exhibition  of  power,  and  if  then  the  question  is  forced 
upon  us  whether  they  shall  submit  to  the  free  legislative 
will  of  the  people’s  representatives,  or  shall  dictate  the 
laws  which  the  people  must  obey,  we  will  accept  and 
settle  that  issue  as  one  involving  the  integrity  and  safety 
of  American  institutions. 

I  love  the  principles  of  true  Democracy  because  they 
are  founded  in  patriotism  and  upon  justice  and  fairness 
toward  all  interests.  I  am  proud  of  my  party  organiza¬ 
tion  because  it  is  conservatively  sturdy  and  persistent  in 
the  enforcement  of  its  principles.  Therefore  I  do  not 
despair  of  the  efforts  made  by  the  House  of  Representa¬ 
tives  to  supplement  the  bill  already  passed  by  further 
legislation,  and  to  have  engrafted  upon  it  such  modifica¬ 
tions  as  will  more  nearly  meet  Democratic  hopes  and 
aspirations. 

I  cannot  be  mistaken  as  to  the  necessity  of  free  raw 
materials  as  the  foundation  of  logical  and  sensible  tariff 
reform.  The  extent  to  which  this  is  recognized  in  the 
legislation  already  secured  is  one  of  its  encouraging  and 
redeeming  features;  but  it  is  vexatious  to  recall  that 
while  free  coal  and  iron  ore  have  been  denied  us,  a  recent 
letter  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  discloses  the  fact 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


1 18 

that  both  might  have  been  made  free  by  the  annual  sur¬ 
render  of  only  about  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars  of 
unnecessary  revenue. 

I  am  sure  that  there  is  a  common  habit  of  underesti¬ 
mating  the  importance  of  free  raw  materials  in  tariff 
legislation,  and  of  regarding  them  as  only  related  to  con¬ 
cessions  to  be  made  to  our  manufacturers.  The  truth  is, 
their  influence  is  so  far-reaching  that  if  disregarded,  a 
complete  and  beneficent  scheme  of  tariff  reform  cannot  b$ 
successfully  inaugurated. 

When  we  give  to  our  manufacturers  free  raw  ma¬ 
terials  we  unshackle  American  enterprise  and  ingenuity, 
and  these  will  open  the  doors  of  foreign  markets  to  the 
reception  of  our  wares  and  give  opportunity  for  the  con¬ 
tinuous  and  remunerative  employment  of  American  labor. 

With  materials  cheapened  by  their  freedom  from 
tariff  charges,  the  cost  of  their  product  must  be  corre¬ 
spondingly  cheapened.  Thereupon  justice  and  fairness 
to  the  consumer  would  demand  that  the  manufacturers  be 
obliged  to  submit  to  such  a  readjustment  and  modification 
of  the  tariff  upon  their  finished  goods  as  would  secure  to 
the  people  the  benefit  of  the  reduced  cost  of  their  manu¬ 
facture,  and  shield  the  consumer  against  the  exaction  of 
inordinate  profits. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  free  raw  materials  and  a  just 
and  fearless  regulation  and  reduction  of  the  tariff  to  meet 
the  changed  conditions,  would  carry  to  every  humble 
home  in  the  land  the  blessings  of  increased  comfort  and 
cheaper  living. 

The  millions  of  our  countrymen  who  have  fought 
bravely  and  well  for  tariff  reform  should  be  exhorted  to 
continue  the  struggle,  boldly  challenging  to  open  war¬ 
fare  and  constantly  guarding  against  treachery  and  half¬ 
heartedness  in  their  camp. 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  119 

Tariff  reform  will  not  be  settled  until  it  is  honestly 
and  fairly  settled  in  the  interest  and  to  the  benefit  of  a 
patient  and  long  suffering  people. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Within  twenty-four  hours  after  this  letter  was  writ¬ 
ten,  the  Wilson-Gorman  Bill  became  a  law  (August  28, 
1894),  but  without  the  signature  of  Grover  Cleveland. 

Writing  in  commendation  of  the  President’s  stand  in 
this  matter,  Wayne  MacVeagh,  formerly  a  member  of  the 
Garfield-Arthur  Cabinet,  and  a  frequent  critic  of  Mr. 
Cleveland,  said: 

Personal  Embassy  of  the  United  States,  Rome. 

September  10 , 1894. 

My  dear  Sir: 

I  have  just  received  your  letter  to  Mr.  Catchings  by 
today’s  mail  and  I  must  at  once  thank  you  for  every  word 
of  it. 

I  sometimes  wonder  if  you  have  any  true  conception 
of  the  services  you  have  been  enabled  to  render  to  your 
country.  You  have  made,  no  doubt,  many  mistakes — 
some  perhaps  grievous  ones.  You  know  how  I  regretted 
the  “Higgins”  appointment  in  your  former  term,  and 
how  I  regretted  your  decision  not  to  call  the  extra  ses¬ 
sion  as  soon  as  you  were  inaugurated  this  last  time  and 
postpone  as  far  as  possible  all  questions  of  office  until  the 
tariff  was  revised  and  the  Sherman  bill  repealed.  No 
doubt  I  failed  to  see  the  arguments  on  the  other  side  in 
both  instances  and  I  only  recall  these  differences  of  opin¬ 
ion  now  as  evidence  that  I  have  not  been  in  the  habit  of 
giving  indiscriminate  approval  to  whatever  you  did. 

But  I  do  wish  you  to  appreciate,  to  some  extent  at 


120 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


least,  what  you  have  done  for  the  country  as  a  whole  in 
the  last  eighteen  months — in  spite  of  wholly  unequaled 
and  wholly  undeserved  opposition  in  your  own  party — - 
and  what  is  far  more  weighty  to  my  mind,  in  spite  of  the 
inevitable  opposition  your  ideas  and  standards  of  public 
duty  encounter  in  the  Senate  without  regard  to  party. 
There  many  men  of  both  parties  have  persuaded  them¬ 
selves  that  they  are  at  liberty  to  serve  themselves  before 
their  party,  and  their  party  before  their  country — while 
you  reverse  this  order.  Then  a  good  many  Democrats 
in  the  Senate — a  great  many  indeed — had  had  their  pride 
as  “practical  politicians”  sorely  wounded  by  your  re¬ 
nomination  and  re-election  against  their  well-known  pre¬ 
dictions  and  wishes. 

Yet  what  have  you  not  accomplished?  You  have  put 
the  nation’s  foreign  affairs  upon  the  sound  basis  of  re¬ 
spect  for  the  rights  of  others  while  exacting  from  others 
respect  for  our  own — and  criticism  on  that  subject  has 
absolutely  disappeared. 

You  have  made  every  dollar  circulating  in  the  United 
States  as  good  as  a  gold  dollar  and,  whoever  may  “fret 
or  fume,”  that  great  work  will  never  be  undone. 

You  suppressed  at  almost  no  cost  of  blood  and  not 
much  in  money,  a  hideous  outbreak  of  lawlessness  which 
threatened  to  unsettle  men’s  minds  as  to  the  respect  due 
to  law.  Consider  the  value  of  that  precedent  alone  in  the 
immediate  future. 

And  now  for  the  first  time  in  an  entire  generation — 
since  1 86 1 — you  have  turned  a  revision  of  the  tariff  away 
from  higher  to  lower  duties.  For  the  first  time  in  that 
long  period  trade  is  to  be  freer  and  the  people’s  burdens 
less  heavy. 

And  to  crown  all,  you  have  written  this  last  letter — 
the  bravest  and  best  thing  it  seems  to  me  you  have  yet 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  121 

done.  Those  who  were  willing  to  misrepresent,  were 
able  to  distort  the  plain  meaning  of  your  allusions  to  the 
sugar  schedule  in  the  letter  to  Mr.  Wilson — but  these  last 
words  are  incapable  of  such  abuse. 

And  then  it  summons  both  the  party  and  the  country 
to  continue  the  inevitable  struggle  for  still  greater  com¬ 
mercial  freedom  and  still  fewer  and  less  heavy  taxes  to 
be  levied  by  the  protected  interests  upon  their  less  favored 
fellow  citizens.  In  the  long  run — nay,  even  in  a  short 
run — free  wool  means  all  raw  materials  free, 

I  know  what  discouragements  you  have  encountered 
and  how  dark  and  hopeless  the  path  before  you  must  often 
have  seemed;  but  if  ever  man  did,  you  have  served  your 
country  not  only  well  but  effectively  since  March  4,  1893. 

Don’t  on  any  account  answer  this — get  all  the  rest 
you  can. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Wayne  MacVeagh. 

To 

Hon.  Grover  Cleveland. 

A  few  weeks  later  Mr.  Carnegie  wrote: 

New  York,  N.  Y., 

3  West  51st  St., 
December  14,  18Q4, 

To  His  Excellency, 

The  President  of  the 
United  States. 

Dear  Sir : 

I  venture  to  address  you,  because  a  letter  to  the  highest 
official  will  attract  most  attention,  and  also  because  of  my 
respect  for  you  personally. 

There  is  great  trouble  in  regard  to  the  national 


122 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


finances  owing  to  a  serious  falling  off  in  the  Govern¬ 
ment’s  revenues.  Permit  me  to  lay  a  suggestion  before 
you,  which  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  Free  Trade 
or  Protection,  and  is  not  in  any  possible  sense  a  party 
question  since  neither  party  has  ever  acted  upon  the. 
policy  I  am  now  about  to  suggest. 

In  1892  the  tariff  duties  were  collected  from  foreign 
imports  of  the  luxuries  of  the  rich  as  follows : 


Wool  manufactures .  $34,293,609 

Silk  manufactures .  16,965,637 

Cotton  manufactures .  1 6,436,733 

Flax  manufactures .  10,066,636 

Glass  and  china  manufactures  ....  10,339,000 

Wines,  liquors,  etc .  8,935,000 

Tobacco,  cigars .  11,882,557 


Here  are  $108,000,000  of  revenues  from  seven  classes 
of  luxuries;  and  here  are  a  few  others  which  netted  over 
six  millions  more — jewelry,  artificial  flowers,  clocks, 
brushes,  paper,  perfumeries,  musical  instruments,  mak¬ 
ing  1 14  millions,  or  two  thirds  of  the  total  collected  from 
imports — 174  millions. 

Now  Mr.  President,  you  have  only  to  enquire  to  find 
that  the  masses  of  the  people  use  none  of  these  articles 
to  speak  of.  As  far  as  silk  and  woolen  cloths  are  con¬ 
cerned,  the  home  manufacturer  supplies  the  masses.  In 
regard  to  linens,  common  grade  tablecloths  are  imported, 
but  even  in  regard  to  these  the  poorer  classes  use  cotton 
tablecloths  of  domestic  manufacture. 

Under  the  present  tariff  law  these  articles  have  been 
greatly  reduced,  and  the  main  work  of  the  Wilson  Bill 
is  this  reduction  of  the  luxuries  of  the  rich,  which  yield 
two  thirds  of  all  the  revenue  collected.  That  the  origina¬ 
tors  of  the  present  tariff  intended  any  such  result,  is  not 
to  be  believed.  The  movement  against  the  tariff,  begun 


1 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  1 23 

by  you,  was  to  meet  the  question  of  a  surplus  when  re¬ 
ductions  were  required  to  limit  the  exactions  of  revenue 
from  the  people  to  the  actual  wants  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment. 

When  the  “condition  and  not  the  theory  which  con¬ 
fronts  you”  has  changed,  the  statesman  who  regarded  the 
condition  and  not  the  theory,  may  be  expected  to  leave  the 
theory  to-day  and  deal  with  the  new  conditions.  Such 
would  be  consistency  in  the  highest  sense,  although  genius 
cares  little  for  consistency  and  is  only  concerned  to  do 
what  is  best  at  the  time. 

My  suggestion  therefore  is  that  a  short  bill  be  passed 
increasing  for  two  years  the  duties  upon  these  articles  de 
luxe,  used  only  by  the  extravagant  few,  at  least  50  per  cent. 
I  should  go  even  beyond  this,  but  this  increase  would 
yield,  say  fifty  millions  of  additional  revenue,  and  not  one 
workingman  or  his  family,  nor  a  man  upon  a  small  salary 
would  be  affected  to  the  extent  of  one  dollar. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  foreign  imported 
articles,  which  are  really  articles  de  luxe  used  by  the  rich, 
can  be  either  greatly  diminished  or  greatly  increased  by  a 
change  in  duties,  because  cost  is  not  the  first  consideration 
with  the  purchasers,  taste,  fashion,  being  potent.  But  to 
guard  against  the  belief  that  these  imported  articles  were 
used  to*  any  extent  by  the  masses,  the  proposed  additional 
duty  should  be  placed  upon  cloths  of  certain  grades  and 
value.  This  would  allow  the  masses  to  use  these  articles 
upon  as  favorable  terms  as  now,  but  believe  me  Sir,  they 
do  not  use  imported  articles  at  all. 

You  no  doubt  have  it  within  your  power  to  ascertain 
whether  this  be  true  or  not,  may  I  beg  you  so  to  ascertain. 
I  believe  you  will  agree  with  me  that  if  this  be  true,  you 
have  here  the  best  remedy  possible,  and  the  easiest  to 
carry,  for  our  present  trouble. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


124 

This  is  neither  free  Trade  nor  Protection,  neither 
party  has  ever  treated  these  luxuries  simply  from  a  reve¬ 
nue  point  of  view,  the  Republican  bills  have  been  pro¬ 
tective,  and  the  Democratic  bills  in  the  direction  of  lower 
duties.  This  is  neither,  but  simply  the  best  means  of  rais¬ 
ing  more  revenue,  and  I  submit  for  your  consideration 
that  if  this  can  be  raised  upon  the  extravagances  of  the 
pleasure-loving  luxurious-living  few,  and  it  is  for  the 
best  interests  of  the  masses  of  the  people  that  this  should 
be  done.  The  Income  Tax  could  readily  be  abandoned, 
and  yet  the  increased  duties  proposed  would  come  as  ex¬ 
clusively  as  the  Income  Tax  will  from  the  few  having 
more  than  four-thousand  dollars  income  per  annum,  and 
require  no  increase  of  officials  or  entail  additional  cost; 
besides  these  duties  would  yield  double  any  estimate  made 
of  the  Income  Tax  revenue. 

It  is  a  new  policy  Mr.  President,  and  I  cannot  but 
think  one  worthy  of  you,  and  one  which  requires  just  such 
a  man  to  propose  and  establish.  I  am  Mr.  President,  with 
great  respect 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Andrew  Carnegie. 

His  Excellency,  Grover  Cleveland,  President. 

Executive  Mansion, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

P.  S. 

People  generally  do  not  quite  understand  to  what  ex¬ 
tent  foreign  textile  articles  are  for  the  rich  only.  Take 
wool,  for  instance:  In  1890  the  value  of  the  home  manu¬ 
factured  article  was  $338,000,000.  The  high-priced  for¬ 
eign  fine  woolens  were  imported  to  the  value  of  only 
$35,500,00°,  their  value  per  yard  being  much  greater  than 
that  of  the  ordinary  qualities  produced  at  home ;  the  num¬ 
ber  of  yards  probably  was  not  beyond  six  or  seven  per 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  1 2$ 

cent  of  the  total  consumption.  We  have  a  similar  result 
with  cotton :  The  value  of  the  home-manufactured  prod¬ 
uct  in  1890  was  $268,000,000,  and  the  total  amount  im¬ 
ported  was  valued  at  only  $28,000,000.  Even  in  regard 
to  silks  imported,  the  manufactured  product  of  American 
mills  in  1890  was  valued  at  $69,000,000,  the  total  im¬ 
ported  silk  manufactures  $31,000,000  only.  These  are 
also  of  much  higher  value  per  yard  than  the  home  prod¬ 
uct.  Since  1890  the  silk  manufacturers  of  America  have 
gained  greatly,  and  are  constantly  filling  the  home  de¬ 
mands  more  completely. 

If  the  foreign  woolens,  silks,  and  linens  were  classified 
as  to  fineness  and  value,  it  would  be  seen  that  goods  of 
common  grades,  such  as  the  people  generally  use,  were  no 
longer  imported  to  any  considerable  extent,  nor  can  they 
be  under  the  present  bill. 

By  limiting  the  bill  to  two  years  and  confining  the  in¬ 
creased  duties  to  the  higher  qualities,  it  could  not  be  said 
that  the  measure  was  framed  in  the  interests  of  the 
home  manufacturer,  because  the  finer  qualities  could 
not  be  successfully  produced  to  any  great  extent  in 
the  short  space  of  two  years,  and  manufacturers  would 
not  invest  capital  for  the  necessary  special  machinery, 
etc. 

The  increased  revenues  thus  obtainable  with  the  de¬ 
crease  in  pensions,  and  the  natural  increase  of  revenues 
from  increase  of  wealth  and  population  would  give  the 
last  year  of  the  Administration  a  splendid  record,  and 
the  President  would  pass  into  history  as  a  Statesman  who 
met  an  emergency  by  a  heroic  and  original  measure.  At 
the  same  time,  its  close  would  be  graced  by  a  reduction 
of  duties  by  the  expiration  of  the  temporary  act. 

The  Republican  party,  of  course,  could  be  relied  upon 


126 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


to  favor  this  measure,  and  surely  a  sufficient  number  of 
the  Democratic  party  would  see  its  wisdom. 

A.  C. 

Disappointed  as  they  were  in  the  final  form  of  their 
tariff  bill,  the  Democrats  were  somewhat  comforted  by  the 
presence  of  the  income  tax  clause,  but  their  satisfaction 
was  of  short  duration,  for  Senator  Hill  of  New  York 
promptly  attacked  the  constitutionality  of  the  latter,  de¬ 
nouncing  it  as  a  direct  tax  not  based  on  population,  and 
quite  beyond  the  power  of  the  Federal  Government.  He 
denounced  it  also  as  continuing  in  a  period  of  peace 
measures  which  had  been  accepted  by  the  people  only  as 
a  stern  war  necessity. 

In  1 86 1  a  three  per  cent  tax  had  been  imposed  on 
incomes  over  eight  hundred  dollars.  In  1862  the  rate  had 
been  increased  to  five  per  cent  on  incomes  between  six 
hundred  and  five  thousand  dollars,  and  to  seven  and  a 
half  per  cent  on  incomes  between  five  thousand  and  ten 
thousand  dollars.  Incomes  over  ten  thousand  a  year  had 
been  taxed  ten  per  cent.  In  1864  another  change  was 
made,  providing  for  the  taxing  at  five  per  cent  of  all 
incomes  between  six  hundred  and  five  thousand  dollars, 
all  over  five  thousand  being  called  upon  to  pay  ten  per 
cent.  But  these  war  taxes  had  expired  in  1872,  and 
Senator  Hill  protested  against  their  re-enactment  in  time 
of  peace.  He  also  denounced  the  exemption  of  four  thou¬ 
sand  dollars  as  making  the  measure  class  legislation  and 
therefore  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  free  government.  He 
pointed  out  indignantly  that  it  was  unjust  and  sectional 
in  its  provisions,  bearing  more  heavily  upon  the  East 
than  upon  the  West  and  South.  Despite  protests,  how¬ 
ever,  the  Treasury  sent  out  blanks  and  got  ready  for  the 
collection  of  the  tax,  while  its  opponents  selected  cases 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  1 27 

which  were  sent  to  the  Supreme  Court,  in  order  that  the 
question  of  constitutionality  might  be  judicially  de¬ 
termined. 

Pending  a  decision,  Mr.  Cleveland,  while  by  no  means 
an  enthusiastic  supporter  of  the  income  tax,  prepared  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  law  in  his  own  case.  “The 
President,”  reported  a  Washington  dispatch,  “has  filed 
his  income  tax  returns  and  has  included  his  salary, 
although  the  law  expressly  stipulates  that  no  act  of  Con¬ 
gress  shall  increase  or  decrease  the  compensation  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States  during  his  term  of  office, 
and  the  income  tax  certainly  does  decrease  his  salary  to 
the  extent  of  $920  a  year.  There  would  be  no  question 
concerning  its  application  to  the  salary  of  his  successor 
in  office,  but  he  seems  to  have  desired  to  set  a  good  ex¬ 
ample  to  the  people  by  construing  a  doubtful  question  in 
the  law  against  himself  and  in  favor  of  the  government.” 
He  was,  however,  not  called  upon  to  pay  the  $920,  as  by 
a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  on  May  20th,  the  income 
tax  clause  of  the  Wilson-Gorman  bill  was  declared 
unconstitutional. 

This  opinion  was  the  more  remarkable  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  fifteen  years  earlier  the  Supreme  Court  had  ren¬ 
dered  the  opposite  decision  by  unanimous  consent.  It 
now  reversed  that  decision  by  the  narrow  majority  of  one 
vote,  Associate-Justices  Harlan,  Brown,  Jackson,  and 
White  voting  to  uphold  the  law,  Associate- Justices 
Brewer,  Field,  Gray,  Shiras,  and  Chief  Justice  Fuller 
voting  to  declare  it  unconstitutional. 

As  a  sequel  to  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  efforts  to 
keep  faith  with  the  people  over  tariff  reform,  we  find  two 
incidents  showing  his  breadth  of  vision  and  unusual  mag¬ 
nanimity  of  spirit.  When  the  Wilson  Bill  left  the  House, 


128 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


sugar,  both  raw  and  refined,  was  upon  the  free  list.  In 
the  Senate,  however,  the  sugar  Senators  secured  protective 
rates  satisfactory  to  the  Trust,  and  the  question  had  been 
not  inappropriately  raised  as  to  how  this  protection  of  an 
industry  certainly  in  no  sense  “infant”  was  secured.  Re¬ 
criminations  followed,  and  an  investigation. 

The  investigating  committee,  composed  of  two  Demo¬ 
cratic  Senators,  two  Republican  Senators,  and  one  Popu¬ 
list,  unearthed  scandal  enough  to  justify  even  the  most 
radical  preachers  against  the  trust  evil.  Henry  O.  Have- 
meyer,  President  of  the  Sugar  Trust,  admitted  on  the 
stand  that  the  Trust  regularly  contributed  to  the  cam¬ 
paign  chest  of  the  party  most  likely  to  serve  their  interests 
in  any  particular  state,  and  concealed  these  under  the 
head  of  “expenses”  on  their  books.  He  also  admitted  that 
sugar  lobbyists  had  been  kept  in  Washington  when  the 
Wilson  Bill  was  pending,  to  influence  the  people’s  repre¬ 
sentatives  in  the  interest  of  sugar.  Senator  Quay  defiantly 
admitted  that  while  deliberating  on  the  tariff  on  sugar, 
he  had  been  buying  and  selling  sugar  stock,  and  boldly 
proclaimed  his  intention  to  continue  to  do  so. 

The  Committee’s  report,  signed  by  every  member, 
deprecated  the  “pressure  to  which  Congress  and  its  mem¬ 
bers  are  subjected  by  the  representatives  of  great  indus¬ 
trial  combinations  whose  enormous  wealth  tends  to  sug¬ 
gest  undue  influence.” 

Had  there  been  anything  vindictive  in  the  President’s 
nature,  he  would  have  been  disposed  to  interpret  every 
subsequent  case  in  a  manner  unfavorable  to  these  sugar 
barons.  Instead,  he  was  as  scrupulously  fair  in  inter¬ 
preting  the  law  when  touching  them  as  he  was  with  refer¬ 
ence  to  any  other  citizen,  as  is  shown  by  the  following 
letter  to  Attorney-General  Harmon: 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  1 29 

Gray  Gables, 

Buzzard’s  Bay,  Mass. 

July  31, 1895 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Attorney  General 

...  I  am  a  good  deal  annoyed  by  the  situation  of  the 
sugar  bounty  question  and  Comptroller  Bowler’s  position 
in  relation  to  it. 

I  have  always  expressed  the  opinion  that  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  the  McKinley  law  provided  that  the  bounty 
should  be  paid  for  a  certain  number  of  years — in  so  many 
words  or  in  effect — that  sugar  producers  had  more  than 
an  ordinary  right  to  rely  upon  the  payment  of  the  bounty 
during  that  time.  Having  relied  upon  the  permanency 
of  the  bounty  to  the  extent  provided  by  the  limit  fixed  in 
the  law,  it  has  always  seemed  to  mejthat  when  the  bounty 
was  swept  away  in  the  midst  of  the  producing  season  and 
after  expense  had  been  incurred  on  the  faith  of  the  prom¬ 
ised  bounty,  equity  and  justice  dictated  some  reimburse¬ 
ment  of  the  loss  sustained  by  reliance  upon  the  promise 
of  the  Government.  I  don’t  call  this  a  bounty  but  a 
reimbursement .  I  hold  the  belief  that  the  money  appro¬ 
priated  by  way  of  such  indemnification  should  be  paid, 
and  I  am  very  earnest  in  this  belief  and  I  think  I  am  per¬ 
fectly  consistent  in  claiming  at  the  same  time  to  be  one  of 
the  strongest  opponents  of  bounties  in  the  Country. 

I  have  no  idea  that  there  is  any  constitutional  objec¬ 
tion  in  the  way  of  the  Government’s  doing  a  thing  so 
clearly  in  the  line  of  equity  and  good  conscience,  as  is 
this  indemnification  to  the  sugar  producers  who  have 
incurred  expense  they  would  not  have  incurred  except  for 
the  Government’s  invitation. 

I  thought  the  question  all  out  before  approving  the 
appropriation;  and  while  I  esteem  Mr.  Bowler  as  an  ex¬ 
cellent  and  careful  officer,  I  do  not  think  that  in  this  case 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


130 

he  is  called  on  to  override  the  Congress  and  the  President 
on  a  question  so  entirely  judicial  as  the  constitutionality 
of  this  provision. 

Even  if  he  should  think  it  his  duty  to  take  up  the  judi¬ 
cial  question  of  constitutionality,  I  am  by  no  means  cer¬ 
tain  that  he  would  find  in  the  decision  of  the  District 
Court  of  Appeals  justification  for  deciding  against  the 
appropriation.  Before  he  assumes  such  a  responsibility 
(if  in  any  case  he  should  assume  it)  he  should  have,  it 
seems  to  me,  the  judgment  of  the  highest  court  upon  the 
exact  point.  He  certainly  has  not  the  former  and  I  do 
not  believe  the  judgment  of  the  Court  of  Appeals  covers 
the  phase  of  the  bounty  question  now  presented. 

I  cannot  but  feel  the  greatest  anxiety  on  this  subject; 
for  I  have  been  an  openly  avowed  advocate  of  this  meas¬ 
ure  of  restitution;  and  until  I  get  new  light,  shall  continue 
my  efforts  to  bring  it  about  whoever  withstands. 

I  am  not  at  all  adverse  to  Mr.  Bowler’s  knowing  my 
views. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Judson  Harmon, 

Attorney  General, 

Washington. 

Even  more  surprising  was  his  selection,  in  the  heat  of 
the  sugar  conflict,  of  one  of  his  strongest  opponents, 
Senator  White,  of  Louisiana,  to  a  vacant  place  upon  the 
Supreme  Bench.  That  vacancy,  caused  by  the  death  of 
Associate  Justice  Samuel  Blatchford,  had  already 
brought  the  President  much  trouble,  and  not  a  little 
humiliation.  Soon  after  Mr.  Blatchford’s  death,  Mr. 
Cleveland  had  nominated  William  B.  Hornblower,  of 
New  York,  a  man  admirably  equipped  for  the  post,  but 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  13 1 

unfortunately  possessed  of  powerful  political  enemies, 
chief  among  whom  was  the  New  York  Senator,  David  B. 
Hill. 

Hill  had  not  forgotten  that  Hornblower  had  been  one 
of  the  committee  of  nine,  appointed  by  the  Association 
of  the  Bar  of  the  City  of  New  York  to  investigate  the 
conduct  of  Isaac  H.  Maynard,  attorney  and  counsel  for 
the  Board  of  State  Canvassers,  and  accused  of  illegal 
action  in  the  senatorial  count  of  1891.  At  that  time,  May¬ 
nard  had  been  Deputy  Attorney  General  of  New  York 
State,  acting  under  the  general  direction  of  Governor 
Hill.  The  committee  had  reported  that  Maynard  had 
committed  one  of  the  gravest  offenses  known  to  the  law, 
that  of  falsifying  election  returns,  and  had  recommended, 
by  unanimous  consent  of  its  nine  members,  Frederic  R. 
Coudert,  James  C.  Carter,  John  E.  Parsons,  Clifford  A. 
Hand,  Edmund  Randolph  Robinson,  John  L.  Cadwala- 
der,  William  B.  Hornblower,  Elihu  Root,  and  Albert 
Stickney,  that:  “A  copy  of  this  report  be  transmitted  to 
the  Senate  and  Assembly,  and  that  those  bodies  be  re¬ 
spectfully  requested  to  consider  whether  the  conduct  of 
Judge  Isaac  H.  Maynard  therein  mentioned  does  not  de¬ 
mand  an  exercise  of  the  power  to  remove  judges  vested  by 
the  Constitution  in  the  Legislature.”  Hill’s  resentment 
against  the  committee  was  great,  and  against  Hornblower 
it  was  especially  bitter,  as  the  latter  had  been  appointed 
on  the  committee  at  the  suggestion  of  Judge  Maynard’s 
counsel,  and  was  therefore,  according  to  Hill,  Maynard’s 
representative.  His  acquiescence  in  the  verdict  Hill 
therefore  regarded  as  treason. 

When  Mr.  Hornblower’s  nomination  to  the  Supreme 
Bench  came  before  the  Judiciary  Committee  of  the 
United  States  Senate,  Hill,  now  a  Senator  from  New 
York  and  a  member  of  the  committee,  marked  it  for 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


132 

slaughter.  He  managed  to  delay  action  until  the  end  of 
the  extra  session  during  which  the  President  had  made  the 
nomination,  and  let  it  be  understood  that  he  would  fight  it 
if  presented  during  the  regular  session.  Conscious  of 
Mr.  Hill’s  powerful  opposition,  and  unwilling  to  em¬ 
barrass  the  administration,  Mr.  Hornblower  made  known 
his  willingness  to  withdraw  his  name.  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
reply  was  characteristic:  “Tell  Hornblower  that  his 
name  will  go  into  the  Senate  the  first  day  of  the  regular 
session  of  Congress  and  will  stay  there  until  confirmed.” 

Confirmation,  however,  proved  impossible.  The 
Judiciary  Committee  reported  the  nomination  to  the 
Senate,  where  it  met  determined  opposition.  Some  of  the 
Senators  resented  the  fact  that  Mr.  Hornblower  had 
been  nominated  without  previous  consultation  with  the 
Judiciary  Committee;  some  felt  that  well  established  cus¬ 
tom  had  been  slighted  by  the  President’s  failure  to  dis¬ 
cuss  the  question  with  the  Senators  from  New  York  be¬ 
fore  presenting  a  New  York  man  for  so  important  a 
position;  some  were  eager  to  express  their  antagonism 
against  Mr.  Cleveland  in  order  to  show  their  loyalty  to 
the  Silverites.  Others,  but  not  enough,  echoed  the  state¬ 
ment  of  Senator  Morgan:  “I  hate  the  ground  that  man 
[Cleveland]  walks  on,  but  I  do  not  believe  in  turning 
down  a  good  man  for  the  Supreme  Court  for  the  purpose 
of  rebuking  Cleveland.”  When  at  last  the  vote  was  taken,, 
Mr.  Hornblower  failed  to  secure  the  majority  necessary 
for  confirmation. 

After  the  defeat  of  Mr.  Hornblower,  the  President 
nominated  Judge  Wheeler  H.  Peckham,  against  whom 
also  Senator  Hill  turned  his  poisoned  arrows.  In  his 
eagerness  to  secure  Peckham’s  confirmation,  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land  sent  the  following  appeal  to  Joseph  H.  Choate, 
recognized  leader  of  the  New  York  bar: 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF 


133 


Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

January  27 , 1894 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Choate, 

You  can  do  what  I  deem  to  be  a  great  service  to  the 
Country  and  add  very  much  to  the  prospect  of  a  high 
honor  coming  to  the  Bar  of  New  York  if  you  will  imme¬ 
diately  write  a  letter  to  Senator  Hoar  representing  to  him 
the  good  things  you  know  concerning  Wheeler  H.  Peck- 
ham’s  fitness  for  a  place  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court. 

You  can  hardly  conceive  what  little  and  mean  things 
have  been  and  will  be  resorted  to  in  an  effort  to  defeat 
him.  One  pretext  is  that  he  has  an  infernally  bad  temper, 
and  there  is  an  inclination  in  certain  quarters  to  hide  be¬ 
hind  this  pretext.  I  suppose,  of  course,  there  is  nothing 
in  this  allegation.  If  I  am  right  in  this  supposition  I 
wish  you  would  negative  the  charges  and  speak  of  Mr. 
P  ’s  ability  in  such  a  way  as  your  knowledge  of  the  man 
justifies. 

Let  me  suggest  that  it  would  be  very  well  indeed  if 
you  could  convey  to  Senator  Hoar,  or  have  presented  to 
him,  Mr.  Evarts’  good  opinion  of  Mr.  Peckham,  as  well 
as  your  own.  I  wish  Mr.  Carter  would  also  write. 

I  desire  Mr.  Peckham’s  confirmation, 

1  st  On  account  of  his  merits  and  fitness,  and 

2nd  Because  I  want  the  appointee  to  come  from  the 
New  York  Bar  and  I  have  no  names  in  reserve  which 
represent  it . 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Joseph  H.  Choate,  Esq., 

New  York  City. 

But  nothing  could  save  Mr.  Peckham,  in  view  of  the 
curse,  called  senatorial  courtesy,  which  “Dave”  Hill 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


134 

wielded  against  him,  and  in  view  of  the  number  of  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  own  senatorial  enemies.  The  President  next 
urged  Mr.  Frederic  R.  Coudert  to  allow  his  name  to  be 
sent  in,  but  the  latter  declined  on  the  grounds  of  personal 
obligations  to  clients.  Thus,  long  before  the  conflict  over 
the  Wilson  Bill  was  ended,  the  opposition  Senators 
boasted  that  President  Cleveland  could  nominate  no  man 
whom  the  Senate  would  confirm  as  Associate  Justice.  A 
mocking  phrase  to  that  effect,  by  Senator  Chandler  of 
New  Hampshire,  coming  to  Mr.  Cleveland’s  ears  when 
the  debate  upon  the  sugar  sections  of  the  Wilson  Bill  was 
at  its  hottest,  the  latter  remarked:  “I’ll  name  a  man 
to-morrow  whom  the  Senate  will  unanimously  confirm, 
and  for  whom  that  pestiferous  wasp  will  himself  be  com¬ 
pelled  to  vote.” 

To  those  who  watched  the  sugar  debate  in  the  Senate, 
few  names  would  have  seemed  less  likely  to  be  thus  em¬ 
ployed  than  that  of  Edward  Douglas  White,  Senator  from 
Louisiana.  Mr.  White  was  a  member  of  the  Gorman- 
Brice  alliance,  and  through  it  was  seeking  to  restore 
duties  upon  sugar,  iron  ore,  coal,  and  other  raw  materials 
which  the  House  had  put  on  the  free  list.  His  standing 
before  the  country,  however,  was  not  shaken  by  his 
activities  in  the  interest  of  his  constituency,  and  it  would 
have  been  hard  to  find  a  representative  man  in  any  party 
ready  to  credit  against  him  the  charge,  so  effective  against 
others,  of  being  “Senator  from  Havemeyer.” 

Although,  of  course,  conscious  of  the  high  regard  in 
which  he  was  held,  Senator  White  did  not  suspect  that  the 
President,  whose  cherished  plans  he  was  so  effectively 
opposing,  was  considering  him  in  connection  with  the 
much-discussed  vacant  Associate-Justiceship.  Indeed  it 
is  said  that  when  he  received  a  request  to  call  at  the  White 
House  he  remarked  to  a  friend  that  this  would  probably 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  135 

be  his  last  call  upon  President  Cleveland.  To  his  aston¬ 
ishment,  instead  of  reproaches  for  his  anti-administration 
activities,  he  was  offered  the  vacant  seat  on  the  Supreme 
Bench,  and  at  once  accepted.  The  Senate  unanimously 
confirmed  the  appointment,  on  February  19,  1894,  with¬ 
out  even  the  formality  of  a  reference  to  a  committee,  and 
America  witnessed  the  remarkable  sight  of  a  soldier  of 
the  lost  cause,  a  man  who  had  raised  his  hand  against  the 
Stars  and  Stripes,  first  sitting  with  the  Court  in  whose 
hands  lies  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  and  later 
presiding  over  it  as  tfi£  universally  loved,  honored,  and 
trusted  Chief  Justice. 

It  is  characteristic  of  Mr.  Cleveland  that  when, 
eighteen  months  later,  Mr.  Justice  Jackson  died,  he  again 
contemplated  a  trial  of  strength  with  the  Senate  by  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Hornblower,  but  the  following  letter 
rendered  such  a  course  impossible: 

875  Madison  Avenue,  New  York. 

Nov .  9 /  95. 

Dear  Mr.  President, 

I  observe  that  the  newspapers  are  again  mentioning 
my  name  as  a  possible  nominee  to  succeed  Mr.  Justice 
Jackson.  I  have  been  meaning  for  some  time  past  to 
write  you,  asking  you  to  leave  me  out  of  the  question,  as 
I  have  definitely  made  up  my  mind  that  in  justice  to  my 
family  I  ought  not  to  make  the  pecuniary  sacrifice  in¬ 
volved  in  giving  up  my  professional  income  for  a  judicial 
salary,  and  that  I  should  therefore  feel  constrained  to 
decline  a  nomination,  if  tendered  me,  even  if  confirma¬ 
tion  by  the  Senate  were  certain  to  follow  and  without  pro¬ 
tracted  delay. 

I  have  hesitated  to  write,  however,  lest  I  should  seem 


136  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

to  assume — as  of  course  I  had  no  reason  to  assume — that 
you  were  considering  the  possibility  of  my  nomination. 

When  you  named  me  two  years  ago  to  succeed  Mr. 
Justice  Blatchford,  I  allowed  the  high  honor  of  the  ap¬ 
pointment  and  the  congeniality  of  judicial  work  to  out¬ 
weigh  the  consideration  of  pecuniary  sacrifice;  but 
further  reflection  has  led  me  to  look  upon  the  matter 
differently. 

With  best  regards,  I  remain, 

Yrs  very  sincerely, 

Wm.  B.  Hornblower. 

To  the 

Hon.  Grover  Cleveland, 

Pres,  of  the  U.  S. 

The  President  then  turned  again  to  Mr.  Coudert,  who 
again  refusing,  he  named  Rufus  W.  Peckham,  brother  of 
Wheeler  H.  Peckham  and,  in  order  to  forestall  hostile  ac¬ 
tion  on  the  part  of  Senator  Hill,  sent  the  following  letter: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

Nov.  18, 1895. 

My  dear  Senator: 

Secretary  Lamont  has  shown  me  your  letter  to  him, 
and  I  appreciate  your  willingness  to  come  to  Washington 
to  confer  with  me  if  thought  desirable.  There  is  only  one 
matter  which  I  desired  to  talk  with  you  about  that  I 
think,  to  save  you  the  trip  here,  and  especially  in  view  of 
your  expected  absence  from  the  opening  of  Congress,  I 
ought  to  write  you  about.  All  other  things  will  as  you 
say  “keep”  until  you  arrive  here. 

I  have  been  a  good  deal  bothered  about  a  nomination 
to  the  U.  S.  Supreme  Court — not  because  I  have  had 
much  personal  doubt  as  to  the  best  selection  under  all  the 


THE  WILSON-GORMAN  TARIFF  1 37 

circumstances,  but  on  account  of  other  considerations  out¬ 
side  of  absolute  fitness. 

Of  course  I  want  to  nominate  a  New  Yorker;  and  my 
mind  has  been  constantly  drawn  to  Judge  Peckham  as 
the  best  choice.  It  seemed  to  me  a  short  time  ago  that 
I  ought  to  know  whether  or  not  he  would  accept  the  plan, 
and  I  wrote  to  him  asking  the  question.  After  some 
reflection  he  replied  in  the  affirmative.  So  you  see  I  am 
committed  to  the  nomination.  I  think  the  place  should 
be  filled  by  a  confirmed  nominee  as  early  as  practicable 
and  I  want  to  send  in  the  name  as  soon  as  the  Senate 
meets. 

I  suppose  in  your  absence  and  with  a  lack  of  knowl¬ 
edge  on  the  part  of  the  Committee  as  to  your  feeling  in 
the  matter,  it  might  and  would  be  laid  over  until  your 
arrival. 

Have  you  any  desire  as  to  the  time  of  sending  in  the 
nomination? 

I  think  the  court  needs  him  and  I  would  be  glad  to 
have  him  qualified  very  early  if  you  could  find  it  con¬ 
sistent  and  agreeable  to  pave  the  way  for  it  in  your 
absence. 

I  need  hardly  say  to  you  that  this  is  entirely  confiden¬ 
tial  except  as  you  may  see  fit  to  confer  with  Judge  Peck- 
ham  himself. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  David  B.  Hill, 

Albany,  N.  Y. 

This  time  Senator  Hill  proved  amenable,  possibly 
owing  to  the  fact  that  another  presidential  year  was  at 
hand,  with  Grover  Cleveland  at  last  out  of  the  running. 
The  opposition  was  called  off,  and  Mr.  Peckham  was 
confirmed. 


CHAPTER  V 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894 

“The  real  interests  of  labor  are  not  promoted  by  a  resort 
to  threats  and  violent  manifestations S' 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

IF  some  ingenious  mind  could  invent  a  process  by  which 
labor  would  instantly  recognize  its  friends,  the  prob¬ 
lems  of  the  world  would  be  immeasurably  simplified.  No 
President  was  ever  more  vilified  by  labor  than  was  Grover 
Cleveland,  and  yet,  in  view  of  his  public  acts  and  private 
papers,  it  is  fair  to  say  that  no  President  ever  sympathized 
more  sincerely  with  its  every  just  and  honorable  ambition. 
On  the  other  hand,  no  President  ever  saw  more  clearly 
the  duties  and  obligations  which  belong  to  labor,  and  the 
supreme  necessity,  in  the  interest  of  capital  and  labor 
alike,  of  maintaining  law  and  order  as  the  only  basis  of 
society. 

To  reconcile  opposing  positions,  not  to  take  sides  with 
one  or  the  other  of  opposing  factions,  he  felt  to  be  the 
line  of  promise  in  labor  disputes.  He  therefore  refused 
to  become  the  partisan  of  labor  in  order  to  conciliate  the 
labor  vote,  and  was  equally  careful  not  to  allow  himself 
to  be  branded  with  the  mark  of  capital.  In  this  way  he 
stood  free  to  act  for  the  nation  when  these  two  contended, 
and,  in  consequence,  he  was  especially  loved  by  neither. 
To-day,  however,  as  we  review  his  career  from  the 
vantage  point  of  a  generation  freed  from  the  passions 
engendered  by  his  many  conflicts,  it  is  clear  that  his 
paramount  sympathy  was  for  those  who  depend  upon 
their  physical  labor  for  the  necessities  of  life,  and  that, 

while  fully  conceding  and  loyally  defending  the  legal 

13s' 


139 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894 

rights  of  capital,  he  felt  himself,  in  a  more  special  sense, 
the  champion  of  the  majority.  “The  capitalist  can  protect 
himself,”  he  often  declared,  “but  the  wage  earner  is  prac¬ 
tically  defenseless.” 

That  reconciliation  was  necessary  between  these  two 
genii  of  the  lantern,  he  attributed  more  to  the  sins  of 
capital  than  to  the  sins  of  labor,  although  he  saw  with 
clear  eyes  the  many  sins  of  both.  Communism,  he  said,  is 
“a  hateful  thing  and  a  menace  to  peace  and  organized 
government”;  but  he  added,  “The  Communism  of  com¬ 
bined  wealth  and  capital,  the  outgrowth  of  overweening 
cupidity  and  selfishness  which  assiduously  undermines  the 
justice  and  integrity  of  free  institutions,  is  not  less  danger¬ 
ous  than  the  Communism  of  oppressed  poverty  and  toil 
which,  exasperated  by  injustice  and  discontent,  attacks 
with  wild  disorder  the  citadel  of  misrule.” 

He  eagerly  welcomed  every  suggestion  which  offered 
a  prospect  of  bridging  the  chasm  between  employer  and 
employee;  and  one  of  the  reasons  for  his  great  admiration 
for  Andrew  Carnegie  was  that  the  steel  magnate  showed 
a  zeal  equal  to  his  own  in  the  search  for  the  germ  of 
reconciliation. 

In  acknowledging  an  autograph  copy  of  Mr.  Car¬ 
negie’s  volume,  The  Gospel  of  Wealth ,  Mr.  Cleveland 
said:  “I  am  by  no  means  in  a  despairing  mood;  but  I  am 
afraid  that  there  is  danger  in  the  fact  that  you  are  nearly 
the  only  man,  able  experimentally  to  preach  the  ‘Gospel 
of  Wealth,’  who  is  attempting  to  lessen  a  gulf  by  going 
nearer  to  those  who  cannot  hope  to  climb  nearer  to  him.” 
And  in  commenting  upon  a  manuscript  received  from  the 
same  friend,  he  wrote : 

“I  have  thought  for  a  long  time  that  there  must  be  a 
way  to  so  weld  capital  and  labor  together  that  the  distress¬ 
ing  result  of  their  quarrels  and  misunderstandings  would 


140 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


be  prevented;  and  now  I  am  wondering  if  your  address 
does  not  point  that  way. 

“Perhaps  a  plan  could  now  be  evolved  from  the  theories 
and  facts  you  suggest,  that  would  adjust  itself  to  all  con¬ 
ditions;  but  you  state  the  rule  which  must  underlie  any 
effective  remedy,  when  you  say:  ‘You  must  capture  and 
keep  the  heart  of  the  original  and  supremely  able  man 
before  his  brain  can  do  its  best’ — but  I  am  sure  your  own 
experience  justifies  you  in  further  saying:  ‘You  must 
capture  and  keep  the  heart  of  any  working  man  before  his 
hands  will  do  their  best.’  ” 

This  idea  of  reconciliation  runs  through  his  labor 
discussions  of  every  period.  In  accepting  the  nomination 
as  Governor  of  New  York,  and  the  first  nomination  as 
President,  in  his  first  inaugural  address,  and  in  his  earlier 
presidential  utterances,  it  appears  and  reappears.  And 
with  it  is  seen,  with  ever  increasing  definiteness,  his  con¬ 
viction  that  arbitration  is  the  only  sane  method  of  recon¬ 
ciliation. 

“The  proper  theory  upon  which  to  proceed,”  declared 
his  special  message  of  April  22,  1886,  “is  that  of  voluntary 
arbitration  as  a  means  of  settling  these  difficulties.  But  I 
suggest  that  instead  of  arbitrators  chosen  in  the  heat  of 
conflicting  claims,  and  after  each  dispute  shall  arise,  for 
the  purpose  of  determining  the  same,  there  shall  be  cre¬ 
ated  a  Commission  of  Labor,  consisting  of  three  members, 
who  shall  be  regular  officers  of  the  Government,  charged 
among  other  duties  with  the  consideration  and  settlement, 
when  possible,  of  all  controversies  between  labor  and 
capital.  ...  In  July,  1884,  by  a  law  of  Congress,  a 
Bureau  of  Labor  was  established  and  placed  in  charge  of 
a  Commissioner  of  Labor.  .  .  .  The  Commission  which 
I  suggest  could  easily  be  engrafted  upon  the  bureau  thus 
already  organized.”  Out  of  this  suggestion  grew  the 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  141 

Springer  Bill,  which  President  Cleveland  approved  on 
October  1,  1888,  and  which  provided  special  federal 
machinery  for  the  arbitration  of  labor  disputes. 

Reconciliation,  however,  was  not  his  supreme  theory. 
That  place  of  honor  belonged  to  the  idea  of  enforcement 
of  law;  and  its  testing  was  not  far  off. 

Labor  troubles  had  been  brewing  since  the  beginning 
of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  second  term,  due,  he  believed,  chiefly 
to  the  effects  of  the  McKinley  tariff  and  free  silver  legis¬ 
lation.  In  the  summer  of  1893  the  situation  was  rendered 
more  acute  by  the  Columbian  Exposition,  which  brought 
12,000,000  people  to  Chicago,  and  tested  to  the  utmost  the 
extraordinary  railroad  facilities  of  the  country. 

When  the  great  event  was  over  and  the  well-to-do 
sightseers  had  departed,  Chicago  was  left  to  deal  with  the 
derelicts  of  many  lands  and  of  many  tongues,  who  had 
drifted  to  the  scene  of  the  world’s  interest,  and  had  not 
been  able  to  drift  out  again.  Caught  by  the  panic  of  1893, 
their  plight  was  rendered  far  more  desperate  than  it 
would  normally  have  been.  Soup  kitchens  and  charity 
organizations  of  all  kinds  did  their  futile  best  to  relieve 
the  distress;  but  such  are  only  weak  anaesthetics,  able  to 
deaden  pain  for  but  a  moment,  and  discontent  grew  apace. 

Moreover,  Chicago  was  but  one  center  of  a  disease 
which  reached  from  ocean  to  ocean.  A  party  rendered 
careless  by  long  power  had  sown  the  wind  and  another 
party  was  called  upon  to  reap  the  whirlwind.  Such  at 
least  was  the  President’s  interpretation.  Throughout  the 
country  an  army  of  discontent,  the  unemployed  of  a 
nation,  victims  of  circumstance,  and  products  of  vicious 
habits,  were  facing  that  hard  winter  with  a  feeling  that 
government  had  failed. 

By  spring,  discontent  had  hardened  into  purpose. 
Dreaming  of  wealth  by  the  operation  of  government 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


142 

printing  presses,  shouting  for  an  issue  of  five  hundred 
million  dollars  of  unreal,  inconvertible  paper  money, 
with  which  to  relieve  their  very  real  needs,  Coxey,  Kelly, 
and  Frye,  generals  of  a  horde  gathered  from  all  parts  of 
the  country,  marched  on  Washington. 

On  April  28th  the  “Army  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Christ,”  led  by  Coxey,  reached  the  city,  a  depleted,  be¬ 
draggled  retinue  of  tramps,  and,  straggling  across  the 
lawns  of  the  Capitol,  ended  their  glorious  march  in  the 
lock-up  for  having  disregarded  the  sign:  “Keep  off  the 
grass.”  But  though  the  project  ended  ridiculously,  it 
indicated  a  dangerous  failure  of  free  government  in 
America.  If  jest,  this  great  uprising  was  a  solemn  jest, 
for  so  vast  an  army  of  unemployed  is  a  real  problem  in  any 
age  and  in  any  land.  There  was,  moreover,  another  army, 
the  greater  army  of  the  employed,  preparing  to  exhibit  a 
similar  spirit  of  discontent  and  protest  against  a  free 
government  that  had  failed  of  full  success. 

The  history  of  organized  labor  has  been  a  short  his¬ 
tory,  though  sporadic  attempts  to  combine  in  self-defense 
have  marked  many  ages  in  the  world’s  progress.  Capital, 
on  the  other  hand,  has  long  understood  the  art  of  combi¬ 
nation  for  class  protection.  Indeed,  it  has  usually  contem¬ 
plated  far  more  than  mere  protection,  effecting  in  addition 
plans  for  the  exploitation  of  labor.  Thus  these  two,  twin 
brethren  by  nature,  have  too  commonly  faced  one  another 
as  enemies — alert,  suspicious,  and  at  frequent  intervals 
openly  hostile. 

Expedients  labeled  “welfare  work,”  “employer’s  gen¬ 
erosity,”  or  what  not,  have  at  times  been  used  in  the  hope 
of  keeping  labor  content  with  an  unfair  division  of  the 
common  gains,  but  labor,  though  it  has  generally  taken 
what  was  offered,  has  done  so  sullenly,  desiring  not 
gratuities,  but  partnership. 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  1 43 

The  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company  had  gone  the  full 
distance  in  its  attempt  to  make  labor  physically  com¬ 
fortable.  Its  magnates  had  provided  a  village  near  Chi¬ 
cago,  with  good  cottages,  well  paved  streets,  excellent 
sanitary  arrangements,  and  beautiful  parks.  They  had 
acted  with  uncommon  generosity,  and  they  looked  for 
gratitude  and  contentment  in  the  village. 

But  they  looked  in  vain.  “Happy  Pullman  Town” 
was  neither  grateful  nor  satisfied;  it  was  a  seething  mass 
of  discontent.  And  why?  Partly,  no  doubt,  because  the 
comforts  which  men’s  hands  had  earned  were  handed  out 
to  them  as  though  they  were  gratuities,  partly  because 
their  rents  were  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  per  cent  higher 
than  corresponding  rents  in  Chicago.  Moreover,  the  ears 
of  employers  were  keen.  Whispers  of  discontent  or  criti¬ 
cism  seemed  in  some  mysterious  way  to  connect  with  the 
distant  chambers  where  sat  the  owners  of  the  company,  in 
whose  eyes  criticism  was  ingratitude  and  when  discovered 
meant  for  the  workman  the  dusty  road  and  the  black  list. 

During  the  spring  of  1894,  four  thousand  of  the 
Pullman  village  residents  joined  the  American  Railway 
Union,  which  had  been  organized  the  year  before  to 
protect  railway  workers  against  the  General  Managers’ 
Association,  an  organization  representing  forty-two  rail¬ 
roads,  and  aiming  to  control  labor.  The  growth  of  this 
union  had  been  phenomenal.  Between  August,  1893,  anc^ 
June,  1894,  it  had  enrolled  150,000  members  from  all 
classes  of  railway  employees,  and  was,  as  Mr.  Cleveland 
later  expressed  it,  “the  most  compact  and  effective  organi¬ 
zation  of  the  kind  ever  attempted.” 

In  May,  1894,  the  Pullman  Company  declared  a  re¬ 
duction  of  twenty  per  cent  in  the  wages  of  their  employees, 
the  denizens  of  the  lovely  village,  and  dismissed  a  number 
of  them  as  being  no  longer  necessary  in  view  of  the  state 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


144 

of  the  market.  At  once  a  committee  of  the  villagers  called 
on  President  Pullman,  and  requested  that  the  wages  be 
restored  to  their  original  standard.  This  request  was 
refused,  and  soon  after,  three  of  the  committee  were  dis¬ 
charged,  contrary  to  the  promise  given  by  Mr.  Pullman. 
At  this  point  five  sixths  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  village 
struck,  and  they,  too,  were  discharged,  and  with  them  the 
one  sixth  who  had  not  joined  the  strikers. 

Had  the  lowering  of  wages  been  accompanied  by  a 
corresponding  lowering  of  dividends  and  of  officers’  sal¬ 
aries,  the  men  would  have  had  little  cause  for  resentment; 
but  salaries  and  dividends  remained  unchanged,  and,  as 
the  Company  refused  to  arbitrate,  the  cause  of  the  strikers 
was  taken  up  by  the  Railway  Union,  which  forbade  its 
members  to  operate  trains  with  Pullman  cars  attached. 

How  far  the  leaders  of  the  Union  were  from  plans  of 
violence  when  the  strike  started  is  shown  by  the  following 
proclamation  issued  by  Eugene  V.  Debs,  its  President: 

“To  all  striking  employees: 

“In  view  of  the  report  of  disturbances  in  various  local¬ 
ities,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  caution  you  against  being  a 
party  to  any  violation  of  law — municipal,  State  or  na¬ 
tional — during  the  existing  difficulties.  We  have  repeat¬ 
edly  declared  that  we  respect  law  and  order,  and  our 
conduct  must  conform  to  our  profession.  A  man  who 
commits  violence  in  any  form,  whether  a  member  of  our 
order  or  not,  should  be  promptly  arrested  and  punished, 
and  we  should  be  the  first  to  apprehend  the  miscreant  and 
bring  him  to  justice. 

“We  must  triumph  as  law-abiding  citizens  or  not  at 
all.  Those  who  engage  in  force  and  violence  are  our  real 
enemies.  We  have  it  upon  reliable  authority  that  thugs 
and  toughs  have  been  employed  to  create  trouble,  so  as  to 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  1 45 

prejudice  the  public  against  our  cause.  The  scoundrels 
should  be  made  in  every  case  to  pay  the  full  penalty  of 
the  law. 

“I  appeal  to  you  to  be  men,  orderly  and  law-abiding. 
Our  cause  is  just.  The  great  public  is  with  us,  and  we 
have  nothing  to  fear.  Let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  if  the 
railroad  companies  can  secure  men  to  handle  their  trains, 
they  have  that  right.  Our  men  have  the  right  to  quit,  but 
their  right  ends  there.  Other  men  have  the  right  to  take 
their  places,  whatever  the  propriety  of  so  doing  may  be. 
Keep  away  from  railroad  yards  or  rights  of  way,  or  other 
places  where  large  crowds  congregate.  A  safe  plan  is  to 
remain  away  entirely  from  places  where  there  is  any  like¬ 
lihood  of  being  an  outbreak. 

“The  railroad  managers  have  sought  to  make  it  appear 
that  their  trains  do  not  move  because  of  the  interference 
of  the  strikers.  The  statement  is  an  unqualified  falsehood, 
and  no  one  knows  this  better  than  the  managers  them¬ 
selves.  They  make  this  falsehood  serve  their  purpose  of 
calling  out  the  troops.  Respect  the  law,  conduct  your¬ 
selves  as  becomes  men,  and  our  cause  shall  be  crowned 
with  success.” 

It  was  not  long,  however,  before  the  strikers  were 
openly  boasting  that  they  would,  if  necessary,  “tie  up  and 
paralyze  the  operations  of  every  railway  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  business  and  industries  dependent  thereon,” 
and  were  emphasizing  their  meaning  by  intimidation  and 
violence.  Just  when  and  at  whose  instigation  violence 
was  begun,  it  is  not  easy  to  determine.  Some  writers  have 
concluded  that  the  change  was  due  to  secret  machinations 
of  the  railway  managers,  who  realized  that  thus  would 
the  strikers  weaken  their  own  cause.  Others  have  traced 
it  to  the  human  driftwood  whom  the  World’s  Fair  had 


1 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


146 

left  stranded  in  Chicago,  while  many  have  laid  the  blame 
at  the  door  of  President  Debs  himself.  But  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  almost  from  the  first  the  strikers  were  guilty 
of  what  the  courts  later  described  as  a  “conspiracy  to 
prevent  the  railroad  companies  .  .  .  from  performing  • 
their  duties  as  common  carriers,”  and  that,  early  in  the 
strike,  they  succeeded  in  many  sections  of  the  country. 

As  early  as  June  28th,  news  reached  Mr.  Cleveland 
that  on  the  Southern  Pacific  system  the  mails  were  com¬ 
pletely  obstructed,  and  similar  complaints  poured  in  from 
other  sections  of  the  West  and  South.  To  each  in  turn,  at 
his  direction,  the  Attorney-General  wired  the  message: 
“See  that  the  passage  of  the  regular  trains,  carrying 
United  States  mails  in  the  usual  and  ordinary  way  ...  is 
not  obstructed.”  On  June  30th  the  Superintendent  of  the 
Railway  Mail  Service  at  Chicago  telegraphed  to  his  chief 
at  Washington :  “No  mails  have  accumulated  at  Chicago 
so  far.  All  regular  maihtrains  are  running  nearly  on  time 
with  a  few  slight  exceptions.”  But  on  the  same  day  the 
District  Attorney  for  the  Chicago  District  warned  the 
President  that  violent  interference  with  transportation 
was  imminent,  and  urged  that  the  marshal  be  instructed  to 
place  special  deputies  upon  all  mail  trains,  with  orders  to 
protect  the  mails. 

The  desired  order  was  sent  at  once,  with  the  addition, 
“Action  ought  to  be  prompt  and  vigorous”;  and  the 
Attorney-General  followed  it  the  next  day  by  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  Edwin  Walker  as  special  counsel  for  the  United 
States,  and  by  the  suggestion  that  an  injunction  be  secured 
from  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  District  forbidding  in  ad¬ 
vance  those  acts  of  violence  which  the  government  had 
reason  to  fear.  As  yet,  if  we  may  accept  the  testimony  of 
Mr.  Debs,  later  given  under  oath,  there  was  no  actual 
violence  anywhere;  but  Mr.  Olney  was  convinced  that 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  l47 

violence  was  at  hand  and  the  injunction  was  intended  to 
prevent  it. 

Such  an  injunction  was  clearly  within  the  competency 
of  the  Federal  Courts  under  general  principles  of  law, 
and,  in  addition,  the  Constitution  specifically  places  the 
United  States  mails  and  Interstate  Commerce  under  the 
exclusive  care  of  the  federal  government.  Moreover,  by 
an  act  of  July  2,  1890,  Congress  had  provided  that  con¬ 
spiracies  in  restraint  of  trade  or  commerce  among  the  sev¬ 
eral  states  were  illegal,  and  had  instructed  the  Circuit 
Courts  of  the  United  States  to  prevent  and  restrain  such 
conspiracies.  Furthermore,  the  law  left  no  doubt  of  the 
President’s  power  in  the  premises,  section  5298  of  the 
Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States  containing  these 
words :  “Whenever  by  reason  of  unlawful  obstructions, 
combinations  or  assemblages  of  persons,  or  rebellion 
against  the  authority  of  the  United  States,  it  shall  become 
impracticable  in  the  judgment  of  the  President  to  enforce, 
by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  the  laws 
of  the  United  States  within  any  State  or  Territory,  it  shall 
be  lawful  for  the  President  to  call  forth  the  militia  of  any 
or  all  of  the  States,  and  to  employ  such  parts  of  the  land  or 
naval  forces  of  the  United  States  as  he  may  deem  neces¬ 
sary.” 

Whether,  however,  it  was  wise,  at  such  a  time,  to 
invoke  so  unrestrained  a  power  as  a  blanket  injunction 
which  meant,  if  effective,  the  immediate  end  of  the  strike, 
was  even  then  questioned  by  farsighted  men,  some  of 
whom  had  themselves  handled  this  two-edged  sword  to 
their  regret.  On  July  14,  1894,  Henry  M.  Shepard, 
Presiding  Justice  of  the  First  District  of  the  Illinois 
Appellate  Court,  wrote  to  Judge  Gresham: 

“I  don’t  remember,  if  I  ever  knew,  how  you  have, 
when  on  the  bench,  ruled  with  reference  to  operating  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


148 

Government  through  a  writ  of  injunction  .  .  .  but  I  do 
think  some  of  the  Judges  have  run  wild  over  the  question. 
I  did  once,  and  I  guess  about  the  first,  undertake  to  exe¬ 
cute  all  the  functions  of  government — Executive,  Judicial, 
and  perhaps  Legislative — in  putting  down  a  switchman’s 
strike  on  the  Lake  Shore  road,  some  eight  or  ten  years 
ago,  by  an  injunction  writ,  and  I  am  now  pretty  certain  I 
ought  to  have  been  impeached.  I  would  have  given  a 
hundred  dollars  to  a  fund  for  the  employment  of  a  lawyer 
for  the  switchmen  to  present  a  motion  to  dissolve  the 
injunction  within  a  week  after  I  granted  it  (ex  parte), 
but  no  one  came  and  I  sent  two  poor  devils  to  jail  on  the 
theory  in  my  own  mind  that  so  long  as  the  order  stood  it 
must  be  obeyed.  It  broke  up  the  strike,  or  had  a  tendency 
to  do  so,  but  I  concluded  I  was  exercising  very  dangerous 
powers.” 

The  idea  of  an  injunction  was  naturally  resented  by 
the  strikers,  who  saw  that  it  would  force  them  either  to 
abandon  the  strike  or  defy  the  court,  and  they  regarded 
the  appointment  of  Walker  as  indicating  that  the  federal 
government  was  on  the  side  of  the  railroads.  Governor 
Altgeld  later  summed  up  the  objections  to  Walker  in  these 
words:  He  was  “one  of  the  most  prominent  corporation 
lawyers  in  the  country  .  .  .  the  hired  attorney  of  one  of 
the  railroads  involved  in  the  strike,  and  ...  at  the  time 
personally  engaged  in  fighting  strikers,  and  therefore  had 
an  interest  in  the  outcome.  Yet  this  man  was  clothed  with 
all  the  powers  of  the  government  and  he  brought  to  the 
use  of  himself  and  his  clients,  without  expense  to  them, 
the  service  of  over  4,000  United  States  marshals,  of  a 
specially  picked  United  States  Grand  Jury,  of  several 
United  States  judges,  and  of  the  United  States  army. 
Never  before  were  the  United  States  government  and  the 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  1 49 

corporations  of  the  country  so  completely  blended,  all  the 
powers  of  the  one  being  at  the  service  of  the  other,  and 
never  before  was  the  goddess  of  justice  made  a  mere  hand¬ 
maid  for  one  of  the  combatants.” 

The  injunction  was  promptly  prepared  by  the  court, 
to  be  ready  for  use  when  needed.  It  commanded  “all 
persons  .  .  .  absolutely  to  desist  and  refrain  from  in  any 
way  or  manner  interfering  with,  hindering,  obstructing, 
or  stopping  any  of  the  business  of  any  of  the  following 
named  railroads  [a  list  of  which  was  inserted]  as  common 
carriers  of  passengers  and  freight  between  or  among  any 
States  .  .  .  and  from  in  any  way  or  manner  interfering 
with,  hindering,  obstructing  or  stopping  any  trains  carry¬ 
ing  the  mail.” 

To  ask  Mr.  Debs  and  his  fellow  leaders  to  bow  to  so 
drastic  an  injunction  at  a  moment  when  blood  was  hot, 
and  when  victory  seemed  to  them  assured,  was  a  stern  test 
of  their  sweet  reasonableness.  “The  railway  managers 
were  completely  defeated,”  Debs  later  explained.  “Their 
immediate  resources  were  exhausted,  their  properties 
were  paralyzed,  and  they  were  unable  to  operate  their 
trains.”  But  to  expect  Grover  Cleveland  to  demand  less 
than  complete  obedience  to  law  was  to  ask  the  impossible, 
in  view  of  his  oath  of  office,  and  of  his  conviction  that  he 
must  act  in  the  interest  of  the  public,  which  belonged 
neither  to  the  General  Managers’  Association  nor  to  the 
American  Railway  Union.  Their  mail  and  their  com¬ 
merce  were  being  hindered  in  lawful  transit.  Their  lives 
and  their  property  were  being  jeopardized.  Their  Presi¬ 
dent  must  interfere,  cost  what  it  might,  offend  whom  it 
might. 

On  July  2nd  news  reached  the  White  House  that  the 
injunction  had  been  issued  to  restrain  Debs  and  his  fellow 
officials,  together  with  parties  of  names  unknown,  and 


1 50  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

that  the  writs  would  be  served  that  same  afternoon.  The 
President  was,  furthermore,  warned  that  the  temper  of 
the  strikers  was  such  as  to  indicate  that  troops  might  be 
required,  “if  the  United  States  mails  were  to  be  kept  mov¬ 
ing  and  the  injunction  respected.” 

“If  the  United  States  mails  were  to  be  kept  moving” 
was  a  proposition  which  Mr.  Cleveland  never  harbored. 
H  is  method  of  reasoning  on  such  a  subject  was  not  in  con¬ 
ditional  clauses.  There  were  no  “ifs”  or  “buts”  in  his 
attitude  toward  lawlessness.  The  United  States  mails 
would  be  kept  moving.  Interstate  commerce  would  be 
kept  open,  whoever  opposed.  His  special  council  had 
appealed  for  troops,  and  troops  he  should  have.  Accord¬ 
ingly  General  Nelson  A.  Miles,  Commandant  of  the 
Department  of  Missouri,  was  warned  to  “expect  orders  at 
any  time.” 

This  dispatch  had  scarcely  touched  the  wires,  when 
startling  news  arrived:  “When  the  injunction  was 
granted  ...  a  mob  of  from  two  to  three  thousand  held 
possession  of  a  point  in  the  city  near  the  crossing  of  the 
Rock  Island  by  other  roads,  where  they  had  already 
ditched  a  mail  train,  and  prevented  the  passing  of  any 
train,  whether  mail  or  otherwise.  .  .  .  I  .  .  .  believe  that 
no  force  less  than  the  regular  troops  of  the  United  States 
can  procure  the  passage  of  mail  trains,  or  enforce  the 
orders  of  the  courts.”  The  dispatch  bore  the  signatures  of 
Edwin  Walker,  Thomas  E.  Milchrist,  and  Judge  P.  S. 
Grosscup. 

In  reply  District  Attorney  Milchrist  was  informed  that 
“While  action  should  be  prompt  and  decisive,  it  should  of 
course  be  kept  within  the  limits  provided  by  the  Constitu¬ 
tion  and  laws,”  and  orders  were  issued  through  the  War 
Department  which  brought  Colonel  Crofton’s  regiment 
to  Chicago,  where  General  Miles  himself  assumed  com- 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  151 

mand.  The  day,  as  it  chanced,  was  July  4th.  The  outlook 
was  so  alarming  that  before  the  day  closed  Miles  re¬ 
quested  more  troops  for  Fort  Sheridan,  and  in  reply  the 
War  Department  authorized  him  to  draw  six  companies 
from  Fort  Leavenworth  and  two  from  Fort  Brady. 

When  Benjamin  Franklin  was  informed  of  George 
Ill’s  intention  of  sending  redcoats  to  Boston  to  put  down 
rebellion,  he  replied,  “If  sent  they  will  not  find  a  rebel¬ 
lion,  but  they  will  create  one.”  This  was  a  true  prediction, 
and  a  similar  one  might  have  been  made  regarding  the 
immediate  effect  of  the  arrival  of  federal  troops  in  Chi¬ 
cago.  For  the  time  at  least,  they  bred  not  peace  but  war. 
Governor  Altgeld  interpreted  their  presence  as  a  threat 
against  local  self-government,  and  his  indiscreet  utter¬ 
ances  deepened  the  resentment  of  the  strikers  and  their 
friends.  General  Miles  reported  an  increase  in  the  size 
of  the  sullen  mobs,  a  bolder  series  of  lawless  attacks  upon 
trains,  mingled  with  occasional  instances  of  outrages  upon 
persons  or  property.  “The  injunction  of  the  United  States 
Court,”  he  declared,  “is  openly  defied,  and  unless  the 
mobs  are  dispersed  .  .  .  more  serious  trouble  may  be 
expected.” 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Governor  Altgeld 
addressed  to  President  Cleveland  the  following  telegram 
of  protest: 


Executive  Office,  State  of  Illinois. 
July  5,  1894 . 

The  Hon.  Grover  Cleveland, 

President  of  the  United  States, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir: 

I  am  advised  that  you  have  ordered  federal  troops  to 
go  into  service  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  Surely  the  facts 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


have  not  been  correctlypresented  to  you  in  this  case  or  you 
would  not  have  taken  the  step,  for  it  is  entirely  unneces¬ 
sary  and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  unjustifiable.  Waiving  all 
questions  of  courtesy,  I  will  say  that  the  State  of  Illinois 
is  not  only  able  to  take  care  of  itself,  but  it  stands  ready 
to-day  to  furnish  the  Federal  Government  any  assistance 
it  may  need  elsewhere.  Our  military  force  is  ample 
and  consists  of  as  good  soldiers  as  can  be  found  in  the 
country.  They  have  been  ordered  promptly  whenever 
and  wherever  they  were  needed.  We  have  stationed  in 
Chicago  alone  three  regiments  of  infantry,  one  battery 
and  one  troop  of  cavalry,  and  no  better  soldiers  can  be 
found.  They  have  been  ready  every  moment  to  go  on 
duty  and  have  been  and  are  now  eager  to  go  into  service. 
But  they  have  not  been  ordered  out  because  nobody  in 
Cook  County,  whether  official  or  private  citizen,  asked  to 
have  their  assistance,  or  even  intimated  in  any  way  that 
their  assistance  was  desired  or  necessary. 

So  far  as  I  have  been  advised,  the  local  officials  have 
been  able  to  handle  the  situation.  But  if  any  assistance 
were  needed  the  State  stood  ready  to  furnish  one  hundred 
men  for  every  one  man  required,  and  stood  ready  to  do  so 
at  a  moment’s  notice.  Notwithstanding  these  facts,  the 
Federal  Government  has  been  applied  to  by  men  who  had 
political  and  selfish  motives  for  wanting  to  ignore  the 
State  government.  We  have  just  gone  through  a  long 
coal  strike,  more  extensive  here  than  in  any  other  state, 
because  our  soft-coal  field  is  larger  than  that  of  any  other 
state.  We  have  now  had  ten  days  of  the  railroad  strike, 
and  we  have  promptly  furnished  military  aid  wherever 
the  local  officials  needed  it. 

In  two  instances  the  United  States  Marshal  for  the 
southern  district  of  Illinois  applied  for  assistance  to 
enable  him  to  enforce  the  processes  of  the  United  States 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  x53 

courts,  and  troops  were  promptly  furnished  him,  and  he 
was  assisted  in  every  way  he  desired.  The  law  has  been 
thoroughly  executed  and  every  man  guilty  of  violating  it 
during  the  strike  has  been  brought  to  justice.  If  the 
Marshal  for  the  northern  district  of  Illinois  or  the  author¬ 
ities  of  Cook  County  needed  military  assistance  they  had 
but  to  ask  for  it  in  order  to  get  it  from  the  State. 

At  present  some  of  our  railroads  are  paralyzed,  not 
by  reason  of  obstructions,  but  because  they  cannot  get  men 
to  operate  their  trains.  For  some  reason  they  are  anxious 
to  keep  this  fact  from  the  public,  and  for  this  purpose  are 
making  an  outcry  about  obstructions  in  order  to  divert 
attention.  Now,  I  will  cite  to  you  two  examples  which 
illustrate  the  situation :  Some  days  ago  I  was  advised 
that  the  business  of  one  of  our  railroads  was  obstructed  at 
two  railroad  centers,  that  there  was  a  condition  bordering 
on  anarchy  there;  and  I  was  asked  to  furnish  protection 
so  as  to  enable  the  employees  of  the  road  to  operate  the 
trains.  Troops  were  promptly  ordered  to  both  points. 
Then  it  transpired  that  the  company  had  not  sufficient 
men  on  its  line  to  operate  one  train.  All  the  old  hands 
were  orderly,  but  refused  to  go.  The  company  had  large 
shops  in  which  work  a  number  of  men  who  did  not  belong 
to  the  railway  union  and  who  could  run  an  engine.  They 
were  appealed  to  to  run  the  train,  but  flatly  refused.  We 
were  obliged  to  hunt  up  soldiers  who  could  run  an  engine 
and  operate  a  train. 

Again,  two  days  ago,  appeals  which  were  almost  fran¬ 
tic  came  from  officials  of  another  road,  stating  that  at  an 
important  point  on  their  lines  trains  were  forcibly  ob¬ 
structed,  and  that  there  was  a  reign  of  anarchy  at  that 
place;  and  they  asked  for  protection  so  that  they  could 
move  their  trains.  Troops  were  put  on  the  ground  in  a 
few  hours’  time,  when  the  officer  in  command  telegraphed 


154  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

me  that  there  was  no  trouble  and  had  been  none  at  that 
point,  but  that  the  road  seemed  to  have  no  men  to  run 
trains;  and  the  sheriff  telegraphed  that  he  did  not  need 
troops,  but  would  himself  move  every  train  if  the  com¬ 
pany  would  only  furnish  an  engineer.  The  result  was 
that  the  troops  were  there  over  twelve  hours  before  a 
single  train  was  moved,  although  there  was  no  attempt  at 
interference  by  anybody.  It  is  true  that  in  several  in¬ 
stances  a  road  made  efforts  to  work  a  few  green  men,  and 
a  crowd  standing  around  insulted  them  and  tried  to  drive 
them  away;  and  in  a  few  other  places  they  cut  off  Pullman 
sleepers  from  trains.  But  all  these  troubles  were  local  in 
character  and  could  easily  be  handled  by  the  State  author¬ 
ities.  Illinois  has  more  railroad  men  than  any  other  state 
in  the  Union,  but  as  a  rule  they  are  orderly  and  well 
behaved.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  so  very  little 
actual  violence  has  been  committed.  Only  a  very  small 
per  cent  of  these  men  have  been  guilty  of  any  infractions 
of  the  law.  The  newspaper  accounts  have  in  many  cases 
been  pure  fabrications,  and  in  others,  wild  exaggerations. 

I  have  gone  thus  into  details  to  show  that  it  is  not 
soldiers  that  the  railroads  need  so  much  as  it  is  men  to 
operate  trains,  and  that  the  conditions  do  not  exist  here 
which  bring  the  cause  within  the  Federal  statutes,  a 
statute  that  was  passed  in  1 88 1 ,  and  was  in  reality  a  war 
measure.  This  statute  authorized  the  use  of  Federal 
troops  in  a  state  whenever  it  shall  be  impracticable  to 
enforce  the  laws  of  the  United  States  within  such  states 
by  the  ordinary  judicial  proceedings.  Such  a  condition 
does  not  exist  in  Illinois.  There  have  been  a  few  local 
disturbances,  but  nothing  that  seriously  interfered  with 
the  administration  of  justice,  or  that  could  not  be  easily 
controlled  by  the  local  or  state  authorities,  for  the  Federal 
troops  can  do  nothing  that  the  state  troops  cannot  do. 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  1 55 

I  repeat  that  you  have  been  imposed  upon  in  this 
matter,  but  even  if  by  a  forced  construction  it  was  held 
that  the  condition  here  came  within  the  letter  of  the 
statute,  then  I  submit  that  local  self-government  is  a  fun¬ 
damental  principle  of  our  Constitution.  Each  community 
shall  govern  itself  so  long  as  it  can  and  is  ready  and  able 
to  enforce  the  law,  and  it  is  in  harmony  with  this  funda¬ 
mental  principle  that  the  statute  authorizing  the  President 
to  send  troops  into  states  must  be  construed.  Especially  is 
this  so  in  matters  relating  to  the  exercise  of  police  power 
and  the  preservation  of  law  and  order.  To  absolutely 
ignore  a  local  government  in  matters  of  this  kind,  when 
the  local  government  is  ready  to  furnish  assistance  needed 
and  is  amply  able  to  enforce  the  law,  not  only  insults  the 
people  of  this  state  by  imputing  to  them  an  inability  to 
govern  themselves  or  an  unwillingness  to  enforce  the  law, 
but  is  in  violation  of  a  basic  principle  of  our  institutions. 
The  question  of  Federal  supremacy  is  in  no  way  involved 
— no  one  disputes  it  for  a  moment — but  under  our  Consti¬ 
tution  Federal  supremacy  and  local  self-government  must 
go  hand  in  hand,  and  to  ignore  the  latter  is  to  do  violence 
to  the  Constitution. 

As  Governor  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  I  protest  against 
this  and  ask  immediate  withdrawal  of  the  Federal  troops 
from  active  duty  in  this  State.  Should  the  situation  at 
any  time  get  so  serious  that  we  cannot  control  it  with  the 
State  forces,  we  will  promptly  and  freely  ask  for  Federal 
assistance;  but  until  such  time  I  protest  with  all  due 
deference  against  this  uncalled  for  reflection  upon  our 
people,  and  again  ask  the  immediate  withdrawal  of  these 
troops. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be, 

Yours  respectfully, 

John  P.  Altgeld,  Governor  of  Illinois. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


156 

This  lengthy  statement,  Mr.  Cleveland  later  declared, 
“so  far  missed  the  actual  condition  as  to  appear  irrelevant 
and,  in  some  parts,  absolutely  frivolous.”  “It  was  prob¬ 
ably  a  very  fortunate  circumstance  that  the  presence  of 
United  States  soldiers  in  Chicago  at  that  time  did  not 
depend  upon  the  request  or  desire  of  Governor  Altgeld.” 

The  President’s  reply  was  immediate  and  definite,  but 
its  sure,  unargumentative  tone  was  calculated,  though  not 
designed,  to  exasperate  the  Governor  still  more: 

Washington, 

July  5,  1894 . 

Hon.  John  P.  Altgeld, 

Governor  of  Illinois, 

Springfield,  Illinois. 

Federal  troops  were  sent  to  Chicago  in  strict  accord¬ 
ance  with  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States 
upon  the  demand  of  the  Post  Office  Department  that 
obstruction  of  the  mails  should  be  removed,  and  upon  the 
representations  of  the  judicial  officers  of  the  United  States 
that  process  of  the  Federal  courts  could  not  be  executed 
through  the  ordinary  means,  and  upon  abundant  proof 
that  conspiracies  existed  against  commerce  between  the 
states.  To  meet  these  conditions,  which  are  clearly  within 
the  province  of  Federal  authority,  the  presence  of  Federal 
troops  in  the  city  of  Chicago  was  deemed  not  only  proper 
but  necessary,  and  there  has  been  no  intention  of  thereby 
interfering  with  the  plain  duty  of  the  local  authorities  to 
preserve  the  peace  of  the  city. 

Grover  Cleveland. 

As  printed  in  the  Chicago  Times ,  the  letter  closed  at 
this  point.  An  autograph  copy  found  among  the  Lamont 
papers,  however,  adds  this  postscript,  which  clearly  shows 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  1 57 

how  far  Mr.  Cleveland  was  from  serving  the  cause  of  the 
railway  management: 

“Mr.  McNaught  should  be  informed  that  whatever 
arrangement  is  made  by  the  Company  with  its  employees 
must  positively  be  made  without  relying  upon  the  Govern¬ 
ment  for  any  guarantee  whatever.  The  Military  power 
of  the  Government  refuses  to  be  drawn  into  any  relation 
with  the  details  of  railroad  management.  G.  C  ” 

That  Mr.  Debs  was  even  yet  determined  to  avoid 
violence  is  evident  from  the  following  paragraph  from 
his  pen,  printed  in  an  anti-Debs  Chicago  newspaper  on 
July  5th :  “We  hold  the  position  that  we  can  win  without 
even  the  semblance  of  violence,  and  if  we  cannot  I  prefer 
to  lose  rather  than  tolerate  violence.  Let  me  repeat: 
There  is  but  one  well-defined  estimate  of  the  situation, 
and  that  is,  we  hold  the  railroads  cannot  get  men  sufficient 
to  run  their  trains.  On  that  proposition  we  win  or  lose. 
We  shall  not  interfere  with  any  man  who  wants  to  work. 
We  have  not  done  so  and  shall  not.  A  man  has  a  legal 
right  to  quit  work,  and  it  is  not  the  part  of  the  troops  or 
the  civil  officers  of  the  law  to  arrest  them  for  so  doing, 
though  I  am  informed  such  an  arrest  was  made  today. 
The  American  Railway  Union  will  protect  its  men  from 
the  penalties  of  such  arrests.” 

It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  Governor  Altgeld  sent  out 
many  orders  directing  the  sheriffs  of  the  various  counties 
of  Illinois  to  see  that  the  traveling  public  was  protected 
and  that  trains  were  kept  moving.  It  is  also  true  that  he 
insisted  that  “the  reports  ...  as  to  actual  conditions  in 
Chicago  during  the  strike  were  malicious  libels  upon  the 
city.”  But  he  later  admitted  that  from  July  4th  to  July 
14th  $355,612  worth  of  property  was  destroyed. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


158 

It  was  clearly  the  duty  of  both  President  Debs  and 
Governor  Altgeld  to  continue  to  preach  peace  and  obe¬ 
dience  to  law,  even  in  the  face  of  the  injunction;  unfortu¬ 
nately,  however,  they  chose  another  course,  and  one  which 
compelled  the  hand  that  still  held  the  olive  branch  to 
change  it  for  the  sword.  Debs  now  defiantly  resisted  the 
injunction,  and  encouraged  others  to  do  likewise,  while 
Altgeld  flayed  it  in  the  words:  “A  Federal  judge,  not 
content  with  deciding  controversies  brought  into  his  Court 
.  .  .  proceeds  to  legislate  and  then  administer.  He  issues 
a  ukase  which  he  calls  an  injunction  forbidding  whatever 
he  pleases  .  .  .  and  he  deprives  men  of  the  right  of  trial 
by  jury  when  the  law  guarantees  this  right,  and  he  then 
enforces  this  ukase  in  a  summary  and  arbitrary  manner  by 
imprisonment,  throwing  men  into  prison  not  for  violating 
a  law,  but  for  being  guilty  of  a  contempt  of  court  in  dis¬ 
regarding  one  of  these  injunctions.”  In  the  following 
open  telegram  he  added  further  fuel  to  the  flame  of  law¬ 
lessness  : 


[July  6,  18Q4] 

The  Hon.  Grover  Cleveland, 

President  of  the  United  States, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Sir: 

Your  answer  to  my  protest  involves  some  startling 
conclusions,  and  ignores  and  evades  the  question  at  issue, 
that  is,  that  the  principle  of  local  self-government  is  just 
as  fundamental  in  our  institutions  as  is  that  of  Federal 
supremacy. 

1.  You  calmly  assume  that  the  Executive  has  the  legal 
right  to  order  Federal  troops  into  any  community  of  the 
United  States,  in  the  first  instance,  whenever  there  is  the 
slightest  disturbance,  and  that  he  can  do  this  without  any 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  1 59 

regard  to  the  question  as  to  whether  that  community  is 
able  to  and  ready  to  enforce  the  law  itself.  And  inasmuch 
as  the  Executive  is  the  sole  judge  of  the  question  as  to 
whether  any  disturbance  exists  or  not  in  any  part  of  the 
country,  this  assumption  means  that  the  Executive  can 
send  Federal  troops  into  any  community  in  the  United 
States  at  his  pleasure  and  keep  them  there  as  long  as  he 
chooses. 

If  this  is  the  law,  then  the  principle  of  local  self- 
government  either  never  did  exist  in  this  country  or 
else  has  been  destroyed,  for  no  community  can  be  said  to 
possess  local  self-government  if  the  Executive  can  at  his 
pleasure  send  military  forces  to  patrol  its  streets  under 
pretense  of  enforcing  some  law.  The  kind  of  local  self- 
government  that  could  exist  under  these  circumstances 
can  be  found  in  any  of  the  monarchies  of  Europe  and  is 
not  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  our  institutions. 

2.  It  is  also  a  fundamental  principle  in  our  govern¬ 
ment  that  except  in  times  of  war  the  military  shall  be 
subordinate  to  the  civil  authority.  In  harmony  with  this 
provision  the  state  troops  when  ordered  out  act  under  and 
with  the  civil  authorities.  The  Federal  troops  you  have 
ordered  to  Chicago  are  not  under  the  civil  authorities,  and 
are  in  no  way  responsible  to  them  for  their  conduct.  They 
are  not  even  acting  under  the  United  States  Marshal,  or 
under  any  Federal  officer  of  the  State,  but  are  acting 
directly  under  military  orders  issued  from  military  head¬ 
quarters  at  Washington,  and  in  so  far  as  these  troops  act 
at  all  it  is  military  government. 

3.  The  statute  authorizing  Federal  troops  to  be  sent 
into  states  in  certain  cases  contemplates  that  the  state 
troops  shall  be  taken  first.  This  provision  has  been 
ignored,  and  it  is  assumed  that  the  Executive  is  not  bound 
by  it.  Federal  interference  with  industrial  disturbances 


I 60  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

in  the  various  states  is  certainly  a  new  departure,  and 
opens  up  so  large  a  field  that  it  will  require  a  very  little 
stretch  of  authority  to  absorb  to  itself  all  the  details  of 
local  government. 

4.  You  say  that  the  troops  were  ordered  into  Illinois 
upon  the  demand  of  the  Post  Office  Department  and  upon 
representations  of  the  judicial  officers  of  the  United  States 
that  process  of  the  courts  could  not  be  served  and  upon 
proof  that  conspiracies  existed.  We  will  not  discuss  the 
facts,  but  look  for  a  moment  at  the  principle  involved  in 
your  statement.  All  of  these  officers  are  appointed  by  the 
Executive.  Most  of  them  can  be  removed  by  him  at  his 
will.  They  are  not  only  obliged  to  do  his  bidding,  but 
they  are,  in  fact,  a  part  of  the  Executive.  If  several  of 
them  can  apply  for  troops  one  alone  can,  so  that  under  the 
law,  as  you  assume  it  to  be,  an  Executive,  through  any  one 
of  his  appointees,  can  apply  to  himself  to  have  the  mili¬ 
tary  sent  into  any  city  or  number  of  cities,  and  base  his 
application  on  such  representations  or  showing  as  he  sees 
fit  to  make.  In  fact,  it  will  be  immaterial  whether  he 
makes  any  showing  or  not,  for  the  Executive  is  the  sole 
judge  and  nobody  else  has  any  right  to  interfere  or  even 
inquire  about  it.  Then  the  Executive  can  pass  on  his  own 
application.  His  will  being  the  sole  guide,  he  can  hold 
the  application  to  be  sufficient  and  order  troops  to  as 
many  places  as  he  wishes,  and  put  them  in  command  of 
any  one  he  chooses  and  have  them  act,  not  under  the  civil 
officers,  either  Federal  or  State,  but  act  directly  under 
military  orders  from  Washington,  and  there  is  not  in  the 
Constitution  or  laws  of  the  land,  whether  written  or  un¬ 
written,  any  limitation  or  restraint  upon  his  power.  His 
judgment,  that  is,  his  will,  is  the  sole  guide,  and  it  being 
purely  a  matter  of  discretion,  his  decision  can  never  be 
examined  or  questioned. 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  161 

This  assumption  as  to  the  power  of  the  Executive  is 
certainly  new,  and  I  respectfully  submit  that  it  is  not  the 
law  of  the  land. 

The  jurists  have  told  us  that  this  is  a  govern¬ 
ment  of  law,  and  not  a  government  by  the  caprice  of 
individuals;  and,  further,  instead  of  being  autocratic, 
it  was  a  government  of  limited  power.  Yet  the  autocratic 
Russia  could  certainly  not  possess  nor  claim  to  possess 
greater  power  than  is  possessed  by  the  Executive  of  the 
United  States,  if  your  assumption  is  correct. 

5.  The  Executive  has  the  command  not  only  of  the 
regular  forces  of  the  United  States,  but  of  the  military 
forces  of  all  the  states,  and  can  order  them  to  any  place  he 
sees  fit,  and  as  there  are  always  more  or  less  local  dis¬ 
turbances  over  the  country,  it  would  be  an  easy  matter, 
under  your  construction  of  the  law,  for  an  ambitious 
Executive  to  order  out  the  military  forces  of  all  the  states 
and  establish  at  once  a  military  government.  The  only 
chance  of  failure  in  such  a  movement  could  come  from 
rebellion,  and  with  such  a  vast  military  power  at  com¬ 
mand  this  could  be  readily  crushed,  for,  as  a  rule,  soldiers 
will  obey  orders.  As  for  the  situation  in  Illinois,  that  is 
of  no  consequence  now,  when  compared  with  the  far- 
reaching  principle  involved.  True,  according  to  my 
advices,  Federal  troops  have  now  been  on  duty  for  over 
two  days  and,  although  the  men  were  brave  and  the 
officers  valiant  and  able,  yet  their  very  presence  proved 
to  be  an  irritant  because  it  aroused  the  indignation  of  a 
large  class  of  people  who,  while  upholding  law  and  order, 
had  been  taught  to  believe  in  local  self-government  and 
therefore  resented  what  they  regarded  as  an  unwarranted 
interference. 

Inasmuch  as  the  Federal  troops  can  do  nothing  but 
what  the  state  troops  can  do  there,  and  believing  that  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


162 

state  is  amply  able  to  take  care  of  the  situation  and  to 
enforce  the  law,  and  believing  that  the  ordering  out  of  the 
Federal  troops  was  unwarranted,  I  again  ask  their  with¬ 
drawal. 

John  P.  Altgeld. 

At  the  same  time,  General  Miles  and  other  officers 
and  officials  reported  riotous  assemblies,  violent  mobs, 
and  stealthy  dealings  in  arson  and  murder.  One  of 
General  Miles’s  telegrams  declared:  “Of  the  twenty-three 
roads  centering  in  Chicago  only  six  are  unobstructed  in 
freight,  passenger  and  mail  transportation.  .  .  .  Large 
numbers  of  trains  moving  in  and  out  of  the  city  have  been 
stoned  and  fired  upon  by  mobs,  and  one  engineer  killed. 
There  was  a  secret  meeting  to-day  of  Debs  and  the 
representatives  of  labor  unions  considering  the  advisabil¬ 
ity  of  a  general  strike  of  all  labor  unions.  About  one  hun¬ 
dred  men  were  present  at  that  meeting.”  Miles  later  tele¬ 
graphed  :  “Men  who  were  in  secret  meeting  last  night  say 
that  all  labor  union  men  will  be  called  out  Monday.  In 
meantime  all  labor  men  have  been  advised  to  get  Win¬ 
chester  rifles  and  pistols.  They  hope  to  have  one  hundred 
thousand  men  in  this  city.  They  decided  to  support  .  .  . 
strike  in  every  way.  ...  I  recommend  immediate  con¬ 
centration  of  troops  near  Chicago  ...  to  be  ready  any 
emergency  Monday.” 

In  view  of  such  facts,  and  they  were  but  representative 
of  many,  the  Governor’s  “rather  dreary  discussion  of  the 
importance  of  preserving  the  rights  of  the  States,”  as  Mr. 
Cleveland  later  described  his  lengthy  telegram,  only  exas¬ 
perated  the  President.  “I  confess,”  he  declared,  “that  my 
patience  was  somewhat  strained,  when  I  quickly  sent  the 
following  dispatch  .  . 


163 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894 

Washington, 

July  6,  1894 . 

Hon.  John  P.  Altgeld, 

Governor  of  Illinois, 

Springfield,  Ills. 

While  I  am  still  persuaded  that  I  have  neither  tran¬ 
scended  my  authority  or  duty,  in  the  emergency  that  con¬ 
fronts  us,  it  seems  to  me  that  in  this  hour  of  danger  and 
public  distress  discussion  may  well  give  way  to  active 
effort  on  the  part  of  all  in  authority  to  restore  obedience  to 
law  and  to  protect  life  and  property. 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Attorney-General  Olney  was  equally  contemptuous. 
To  the  Washington  Post  he  said: 

“It  is  hardly  worth  while  to  discuss  at  length  the  false 
premise  and  the  illogical  non-sequiturs  of  the  Altgeld 
manifesto.  As  a  campaign  platform,  it  is  a  safe  prediction 
that  the  author  will  be  found  to  be  the  only  person  to 
stand  upon  it. 

“The  soil  of  Illinois  is  the  soil  of  the  United  States 
and,  for  all  United  States  purposes,  the  United  States  is 
there  with  its  courts,  its  marshals,  and  its  troops,  not  by 
license  or  comity,  but  as  of  right.  The  paramount  duty 
of  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  to  see  that  the 
laws  of  the  United  States  are  faithfully  executed,  and  in 
the  discharge  of  that  duty  he  is  not  hampered  or  crippled 
by  the  necessity  of  consulting  chief  of  police,  Mayor,  or 
even  Governor.  In  the  present  instance  nothing  has  been 
done  and  nothing  ordered  which  the  most  captious  critic 
can  condemn  as  any  invasion  of  State  rights. 

“The  action  of  the  national  executive  has  been  simply 
and  exclusively  directed  to  the  enforcement  of  the  United 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


164 

States  laws,  the  execution  of  the  orders  and  processes  of 
the  United  States  courts,  and  the  prevention  of  any  ob¬ 
struction  of  the  United  States  mails. 

“The  notion  that  the  territory  of  any  State  is  too  sacred 
to  permit  the  exercise  thereon,  by  the  United  States  gov¬ 
ernment,  of  any  of  its  legitimate  functions  never  had  any 
legal  existence,  and,  as  a  rule  of  conduct,  became  prac¬ 
tically  extinct  with  the  close  of  the  civil  war.” 

Two  days  later,  the  President  issued  his  famous  Proc¬ 
lamation  of  July  8,  1894: 

“Proclamation 

“By  the  President  of  the  United  States 
“Whereas,  by  reason  of  unlawful  obstructions,  combina¬ 
tions  and  assemblages  of  persons,  it  has  become  imprac¬ 
ticable  in  the  judgment  of  the  President  to  enforce,  by  the 
ordinary  course  of  judicial  proceedings,  the  laws  of  the 
United  States  within  the  State  of  Illinois  and  especially  in 
the  city  of  Chicago  within  said  state  j  and, 

“Whereas,  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  the  faithful 
execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States  and  protecting 
its  property  and  removing  obstructions  to  the  United 
States  mails  in  the  state  and  city  aforesaid,  the  President 
has  employed  a  part  of  the  military  forces  of  the  United 
States : 

“Now,  therefore,  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of 
the  United  States,  do  hereby  admonish  all  good  citizens 
and  all  persons  who  may  be  or  may  come  within  the  city 
and  state  aforesaid,  against  aiding,  countenancing,  encour¬ 
aging  or  taking  any  part  in  such  unlawful  obstructions, 
combinations  and  assemblages;  and  I  hereby  warn  all 
persons  engaged  in  or  in  any  way  connected  with  such 
unlawful  obstructions,  combinations  and  assemblages  to 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  165 

disperse  and  retire  peaceably  to  their  respective  abodes  on 
or  before  twelve  o’clock  noon  on  the  ninth  day  of  July 
instant. 

“Those  who  disregard  this  warning  and  persist  in 
taking  part  with  a  riotous  mob  in  forcibly  resisting  and 
obstructing  the  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States 
or  interfering  with  the  functions  of  the  Government  and 
destroying  or  attempting  to  destroy  the  property  belong¬ 
ing  to  the  United  States  or  under  its  protection  cannot  be 
regarded  otherwise  than  as  public  enemies. 

“Troops  employed  against  such  a  riotous  mob,  will  act 
with  all  the  moderation  and  forbearance  consistent  with 
the  accomplishment  of  the  desired  end;  but  the  stern 
necessities  that  confront  them  will  not  certainly  permit 
discrimination  between  guilty  participants  and  those  who 
are  mingled  with  them  from  curiosity  and  without  crimi¬ 
nal  intent.  The  only  safe  course  therefore  for  those  not 
actually  unlawfully  participating  is  to  abide  at  their 
homes,  or  at  least  not  to  be  found  in  the  neighborhood  of 
riotous  assemblages. 

“While  there  will  be  no  hesitation  or  vacillation  in  the 
decisive  treatment  of  the  guilty,  this  warning  is  especially 
intended  to  protect  and  save  the  innocent. 

“In  Testimony  Whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand 
and  caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  hereto 
affixed. 

“Done  at  the  city  of  Washington  this  eighth  day  of 
July,  A.D.,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  One  Thousand  Eight 
Hundred  and  Ninety-four,  and  of  the  Independence  of 
the  United  States  of  America  the  One  Hundred  and 
Eighteenth.” 

Upon  reading  this  proclamation,  Mr.  Debs  declared  it 
“a  plot  to  place  Chicago  under  martial  law  at  the  instiga- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


1 66 

tion  of  the  railway  companies  in  furtherance  of  the  lat¬ 
ter’s  plan  to  destroy  public  sympathy.  This  cannot  be 
done.  This  meeting  to-night  will  in  all  probability  last 
until  daylight.  I  am  certain  that  every  union  represented, 
numbering  over  100,000  laborers,  will  vote  to  strike  to¬ 
morrow.” 

With  the  coming  of  the  morrow,  however,  came  new 
evidence  of  the  President’s  determination.  He  issued  a 
second  proclamation  which  recognized  the  conflict  as 
nation-wide,  and  warned  the  good  people  “at  certain 
points  and  places  within  the  States  of  North  Dakota, 
Montana,  Idaho,  Washington,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  and 
California,  and  the  Territories  of  Utah  and  New  Mexico, 
and  especially  along  the  lines  of  such  railways  traversing 
said  States  and  Territories  as  are  military  roads  and  post 
routes  and  are  engaged  in  Interstate  commerce  and  in 
carrying  United  States  mails,”  to  “retire  peaceably  to 
their  respective  abodes  on  or  before  3  o’clock  in  the  after¬ 
noon  on  the  10th  day  of  July  instant.” 

These  proclamations  had  the  desired  effect,  though 
indirectly.  Debs  and  his  associates  having  failed  to  “re¬ 
tire  peaceably,”  at  the  command  of  the  Court,  were  “in 
contempt.”  They  were  accordingly  arrested  on  July  10th, 
and  their  arrest  ended  the  strike. 

But  Mr.  Cleveland  was  not  yet  entirely  satisfied. 
Having  carried  into  effect  his  primary  policy — the  en¬ 
forcement  of  law — he  announced  the  intention  of  appoint¬ 
ing  a  commission  to  investigate  the  questions  which  had 
caused  the  strike.  Of  this  announcement  Mr.  Debs  de¬ 
clared  :  “We  have  no  doubt  that  the  board  will  be  com¬ 
posed  of  men  of  high  character  and  ability,  and  that  they 
will  be  able  to  locate  the  right  or  wrong  involved  in  the 
existing  controversy,  by  virtue  of  which  a  satisfactory 
settlement  will  be  reached.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  167 

board  will  be  promptly  appointed  and  organized,  that  its 
work  will  be  prosecuted  vigorously  to  the  end  of  a  speedy 
settlement  of  the  existing  conflict.  We  are  of  course  for 
arbitration,  and  have  been  from  the  very  beginning,  and 
had  this  principle  been  recognized  this  strike  would  have 
been  avoided.” 

The  next  day,  he  and  his  fellow  prisoners  sent  the 
President  the  following  telegram: 

July  13,  1894 M 

The  Hon.  Grover  Cleveland, 

President  of  the  United  States, 

Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir: 

We  the  undersigned  beg  to  advise  you  that  we  have  just 
submitted  the  following  proposition  to  the  Railway  Man¬ 
agers,  and  if  it  meets  with  your  approval  we  respectfully 
request  that  you  take  such  action  as  you  may  deem  proper 
to  influence  its  acceptance : — 

Chicago,  Ill.,  July  1 3,  1894. 

To  the  Railway  Managers 
Gentlemen : 

The  existing  troubles  growing  out  of  the  Pullman 
strike  having  assumed  continental  proportions,  and 
there  being  no  indication  of  relief  from  the  wide¬ 
spread  business  demoralization  and  distress  incident 
thereto,  the  Railway  employees,  through  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  American  Railway  Union,  re¬ 
spectfully  make  the  following  proposition  as  basis  of 
settlement:  They  agree  to  return  to  work  in  a  body 
at  once,  provided  they  shall  be  restored  to  their 
former  positions  without  prejudice  except  in  cases,  if 
any  there  be,  where  they  have  been  convicted  of  crime 
— this  proposition  looking  to  an  immediate  settle- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


ment  of  the  existing  strike  on  all  lines  of  railway  is 
inspired  by  a  purpose  to  subserve  the  public  good. 
The  strike,  small  and  comparatively  unimportant  in 
its  inception,  has  kindled  in  every  direction  until  now 
it  involves  or  threatens  not  only  every  public  interest 
but  the  peace,  security  and  prosperity  of  our  common 
country.  The  contest  has  waged  fiercely.  It  has 
extended  far  beyond  the  limits  of  interest  originally 
involved  and  has  laid  hold  of  a  vast  number  of  indus¬ 
tries  and  enterprises  in  no  wise  responsible  for  the 
differences  and  disagreements  that  led  to  the  trouble. 
Factory,  mill,  mine,  and  shop  have  been  silenced. 
Widespread  demoralization  has  sway.  The  interests 
of  multiplied  thousands  of  innocent  people  are  suffer¬ 
ing.  The  common  welfare  is  seriously  menaced. 
The  public  peace  and  tranquillity  are  in  peril.  Grave 
apprehension  for  the  future  prevails.  This  being 
true,  and  the  statement  will  not  be  controverted ,  we 
conceive  it  to  be  our  duty  as  citizens  and  as  men  to 
make  extraordinary  efforts  to  end  the  existing  strife 
and  avert  approaching  calamities  whose  shadows  are 
even  now  upon  us.  If  ended  now  the  contest,  how¬ 
ever  serious  in  some  of  its  consequences,  will  not  have 
been  in  vain.  Sacrifices  have  been  made  but  they 
will  have  their  compensations.  Indeed,  if  lessons 
shall  be  taught  by  experience  the  troubles  now  so 
widely  deplored  will  prove  a  blessing  of  inestimable 
value  in  the  months  and  years  to  come.  The  differ¬ 
ences  that  led  up  to  the  present  complications  need 
not  now  be  discussed.  At  this  supreme  juncture  every 
consideration  of  duty  and  patriotism  demands  that  a 
remedy  for  existing  troubles  be  found  and  applied. 
The  employees  propose  to  do  their  part  by  meeting 
their  employers  half-way.  Let  it  be  stated  that  they 


* 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  169 

do  not  impose  any  condition  of  settlement  except  that 
they  be  returned  to  their  former  positions.  They  do 
not  ask  the  recognition  of  their  organization  or  of  any 
organization.  Believing  this  proposition  to  be  fair, 
reasonable  and  just,  it  is  respectfully  submitted  with 
the  belief  that  its  acceptance  will  result  in  the  prompt 
resumption  of  traffic,  the  revival  of  industry,  and  the 
restoration  of  peace  and  order. 

Respectfully, 

Eugene  V.  Debs,  President 
Geo.  W.  Howard,  Vice-President 
Sylvester  Koliher,  Secty., 

American  Railway  Union. 

But  Mr.  Debs  no  longer  had  anything  to  offer.  The 
strike  was  over,  and  all  that  remained  was  for  the  courts 
to  decide  upon  the  penalty.  He  and  his  associates  refused 
to  give  bail,  scorning  to  wear  the  martyr’s  crown  without 
bearing  also  the  martyr’s  cross,  as  their  admirers  claimed; 
or,  perhaps,  as  Mr.  Cleveland  less  charitably  suggested, 
“intending  by  such  an  act  of  martyrdom  either  to  revive 
a  waning  cause,  or  to  gain  a  plausible  and  justifying  ex¬ 
cuse  for  the  collapse  of  their  already  foredoomed  move¬ 
ment.” 

By  July  22d  Mr.  Debs  seems  to  have  entirely  changed 
his  attitude.  From  Cook  County  jail,  Chicago,  con¬ 
temptuously  christened  by  the  pro-Pullman  press  “Head¬ 
quarters  of  the  American  Railway  Union,”  he  sent  out 
the  following  declaration: 

“We  propose  to  continue  this  strike  against  the  Pull¬ 
man  Company  through  good  and  evil  report  and  without 
regard  to  consequences,  until  justice  shall  be  done.  We 
will  use  every  available  means  to  press  the  contest.  Dun- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


170 

i 

geons  shall  not  daunt  us.  The  struggle  is  for  humanity 
and  against  the  most  cruel  tyranny,  and,  unless  we  are 
dead  to  every  impulse  of  mercy  and  fellow-feeling,  must 
be  crowned  with  success.” 

On  July  26th,  Mr.  Cleveland  announced  his  commis¬ 
sion,  Carroll  D.  Wright,  John  D.  Kernan,  and  Nicholas 
E.  Worthington,  and  directed  them  to  “visit  the  State  of 
Illinois  and  the  city  of  Chicago  and  such  other  places  in 
the  United  States  as  may  appear  proper  .  .  .  make  care¬ 
ful  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  any  pending  dispute  or  ex¬ 
isting  controversy,  and  hear  all  persons  interested 
therein.” 

While  Mr.  Debs  and  his  fellow  prisoners  awaited 
trial,  this  commission  carried  forward  its  investigations, 
examining  all  told  one  hundred  and  nine  witnesses.  Ac¬ 
cording  to  the  testimony,  the  railroads  lost  in  property 
destroyed,  hire  of  United  States  Deputy  Marshals,  and 
incidental  expenses,  at  least  $685,308.  The  loss  of  earn¬ 
ings  to  these  roads  was  estimated  at  $4,672,916.  As  esti¬ 
mated  also,  the  3,100  employees  at  Pullman  lost  $350,000 
in  wages,  and  the  100,000  employees  upon  the  twenty-four 
railroads  centering  in  Chicago  paid  at  least  $1,389,143 
for  their  part  in  the  strike.  The  Commission  found  also 
that  during  the  strike  the  number  shot  and  fatally 
wounded  was  12,  number  arrested  by  police,  515;  number 
arrested  under  United  States  statutes  and  against  whom 
indictments  were  found,  71.  The  arrests  made  by  the 
police  were  for  murder,  arson,  burglary,  assault,  intim¬ 
idation,  riot,  and  lesser  crimes.  The  cases  passed  upon  by 
the  United  States  Grand  Jury  were  for  obstruction  of  the 
mail,  conspiracy  in  restraint  of  trade,  and  conspiracy  to 
injure,  oppress,  threaten,  or  intimidate.  It  further  found 
that,  “The  conditions  created  at  Pullman  enable  the  man- 


THE  PULLMAN  STRIKE  OF  1894  171 

agement  at  all  times  to  assert  with  great  vigor  its  assumed 
right  to  fix  wages  and  rents  absolutely,  and  to  repress  that 
sort  of  independence  which  leads  to  labor  organizations 
and  their  attempts  at  mediation,  arbitration,  strikes,  etc.” 

On  December  io‘,  1894,  the  President  transmitted  the 
full  report  to  Congress.  Four  days  later  the  Illinois  Cir¬ 
cuit  Court  decided  that  these  facts  did  not  justify 
Mr.  Debs  and  his  companions  in  their  course  of  resistance 
to  organized  authority  and  defiance  of  a  federal  injunc¬ 
tion.  It  sentenced  Mr.  Debs  to  six  months’  imprisonment, 
and  his  associates  to  three  months  each,  “for  contempt  of 
court.”  The  decision  was  based  upon  the  Sherman  Anti- 
Trust  Law  of  1890,  “an  act  to  protect  trade  and  commerce 
against  unlawful  restraint  and  monopolies” — an  interest¬ 
ing  development  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  controversy 
had  proceeded  from  a  strike  of  laboring  men  against  the 
unjust  exactions  of  the  Pullman  Palace  Car  Company, 
one  of  the  most  perfect  monopolies  ever  devised,  which 
Mr.  Debs  hyperbolically  characterized  as  “remorseless  as 
a  man-eating  tiger.” 

An  appeal  was  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court,  President 
Debs  and  his  fellows  applying  for  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus 
on  the  .ground  that  the  facts  found  by  the  Circuit  Court 
did  not  constitute  disobedience  to  the  writs  of  injunction 
served  upon  them.  The  case  was  argued  on  March  25  and 
26,  1895,  and  on  May  27th  a  decision  was  handed  down, 
sustaining  the  verdict  of  the  Circuit  Court  and  completely 
vindicating  the  legality  of  President  Cleveland’s  course. 
The  decision  declared : 

“The  United  States  may  remove  everything  put  upon 
highways,  natural  or  artificial,  to  obstruct  the  passage 
of  interstate  commerce,  or  the  carrying  of  the  mails.  .  .  . 
It  is  equally  within  its  competency  to  appeal  to  the  civil 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


172 

courts  for  an  inquiry  and  determination  as  to  the  exist¬ 
ence  and  the  character  of  any  of  them,  and  if  such  are 
found  to  exist  or  threaten  to  occur,  to  invoke  the  powers 
of  those  courts  to  remove  or  restrain  them,  the  jurisdic¬ 
tion  of  the  courts  to  interfere  in  such  matters  by  injunction 
being  recognized  from  ancient  times  and  by  indubitable 
authority.  .  .  . 

“The  complaint  filed  in  this  case  clearly  shows  an  ex¬ 
isting  obstruction  of  the  artificial  highways  for  the  pas¬ 
sage  of  interstate  commerce  and  the  transmission  of  the 
mails,  not  only  temporarily  existing,  but  threatening  to 
continue,  and  under  it  the  Circuit  Court  had  power  to 
issue  its  process  of  injunction. 

“Such  an  injunction  having  been  issued  and  served 
upon  the  defendants,  the  Circuit  Court  had  authority  to 
inquire  whether  its  orders  had  been  disobeyed,  and  when 
it  found  that  they  had  been  disobeyed,  to  proceed  under 
Rev.  Stat.  §  725,  and  to  enter  the  order  of  punishment 
complained  of.” 

By  this  prompt  and  determined  course,  Mr.  Cleveland 
had  made  it  clear,  not  only  that  law  must  be  obeyed,  but 
that  the  nation  is  paramount  and  state  lines  only  geo¬ 
graphical  expressions  when  the  welfare  of  the  country  is 
at  stake.  He  prized  the  decision  of  the  court,  not  because 
it  vindicated  his  dignity,  but  because,  to  quote  his  own 
words,  it  established  “in  an  absolutely  authoritative  man¬ 
ner,  and  for  all  time,  the  power  of  the  national  govern¬ 
ment  to  protect  itself  in  the  exercise  of  its  functions.” 


CHAPTER  VI 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 

" The  rules  of  conduct  governing  individual  relations  are 
equally'  applicable  as  between  enlightened  nations  ” 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

WHEN  Grover  Cleveland  became  President,  few  of 
his  contemporaries  would  have  classed  among  the 
most  important  of  the  great  outstanding  questions  which 
confronted  him  a  boundary  dispute  which  for  almost 
three  quarters  of  a  century  had  periodically  caused  fric¬ 
tion  between  Venezuela  and  Great  Britain.  Yet  such  was 
the  case. 

In  1814,  Great  Britain,  by  her  treaty  with  the  Nether¬ 
lands,  acquired  the  provinces  of  Essequibo,  Demerara, 
and  Berbice,  which  under  her  rule  came  to  be  known  as 
British  Guiana.  In  1840  Mr.  (later  Sir)  Robert  Schom- 
burgk,  an  English  engineer,  was  sent  by  England  to  survey 
and  delimit  its  boundaries,  as  a  preliminary  measure,  and 
report  to  the  British  Government.  He  took  particular 
care  to  fortify  himself  with  the  history  of  the  case,  from 
actual  exploration  and  information  obtained  from  the 
Indians  and  from  the  evidence  of  local  remains,  and  on 
such  data  he  based  his  report. 

At  Point  Barima,  where  the  remains  of  a  Dutch  fort 
still  existed,  and  at  the  mouth  of  the  Amacura,  he  placed 
two  boundary  posts.  At  the  urgent  entreaty  of  the  Vene¬ 
zuelan  government  these  two  posts  were  afterwards  re¬ 
moved,  but  the  concession  was  made  with  the  distinct 

understanding  that  Great  Britain  did  not  thereby  in  any 

173 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


174 

way  abandon  her  claim  to  that  position.  In  fact  the 
Schomburgk  line,  as  finally  drawn,  was  a  great  reduction 
of  the  boundary  claimed  by  Great  Britain  as  her  right 
and  its  proposal  originated  in  a  desire  on  her  part  to 
come  to  a  friendly  arrangement  with  a  weaker  power 
with  whom  she  desired  to  remain  in  cordial  relations. 

As  soon  as  Schomburgk’s  report  was  submitted  to  the 
Venezuelan  government,  the  latter  objected,  with  a  state¬ 
ment  of  her  own  claims — claims  starting  in  such  obsolete 
grounds  as  the  original  discovery  by  Spain  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  continent,  and  supported  by  quotations  more  or  less 
vague  from  the  writing  of  travelers  and  geographers.  She 
adduced  no  substantial  evidence  of  actual  conquest  or 
occupation  of  the  territory  claimed. 

Lord  Aberdeen,  then  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  pointed  out  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  arrive 
at  any  agreement  if  both  sides  brought  forward  preten¬ 
sions  of  so  extreme  a  character,  and  announced  certain 
concessions  which  Great  Britain  was  prepared  to  make 
“out  of  friendly  regard  to  Venezuela,”  on  condition  that 
the  Venezuelan  government  would  agree  that  no  part  of 
the  territory  proposed  to  be  ceded  should  be  alienated  at 
any  time  to  a  foreign  power,  and  that  the  Indian  tribes 
residing  in  it  should  be  protected  from  oppression.  No 
answer  to  this  note  was  ever  received  from  the  Venezuelan 
government,  and  in  1850  Her  Majesty’s  Government  in¬ 
formed  the  British  Charge  d’Affaires  at  Caracas  that  as 
the  proposal  had  remained  for  more  than  six  years  unac¬ 
cepted,  it  must  be  considered  as  having  lapsed,  and  in¬ 
structed  him  to  make  a  communication  to  the  Venezuelan 
government  to  that  effect. 

Venezuela  subsequently  permitted  projects  to  be  set  on 
foot  for  the  occupation  of  Point  Barima  and  certain  other 
disputed  positions,  and  the  British  Charge  d’Affaires  was 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 


175 

instructed  to  inform  the  government  of  Venezuela  “that, 
whilst  on  the  one  hand  Great  Britain  had  no  intention  of 
occupying  or  encroaching  upon  the  disputed  territory,  she 
would  not,  on  the  other  hand,  view  with  indifference 
aggressions  on  that  territory  by  Venezuela.”  To  which 
the  Venezuelan  government  replied  that  Venezuela  had 
no  intention  of  occupying  or  encroaching  upon  any  part 
of  the  territory  in  dispute,  and  that  orders  would  be  issued 
to  the  authorities  in  Guiana  to  abstain  from  taking  any 
steps  contrary  to  this  engagement. 

For  a  generation  thereafter  the  question  received  little 
consideration,  Venezuela  being  the  victim  of  absorbing 
revolutions;  and  when  at  the  end  of  that  time  it  began 
again  to  be  discussed,  it  had  grown  more  difficult,  owing 
to  the  value  of  the  gold  fields  lying  between  the  admitted 
dominions  of  the  two  contestants  and  claimed  by  both. 
Venezuela  protested  that  Great  Britain  had  moved  the 
line  of  her  pretensions  westward,  appropriating  some 
33,000  square  miles  of  Venezuelan  territory;  and  British 
statesmen  indignantly  denied  the  accusation. 

In  1876  Venezuela  requested  American  intervention 
in  her  behalf,  and  a  few  months  later  suggested  to  Great 
Britain  that  the  justice  of  the  respective  claims  of  the  two 
nations  might  readily  be  determined  by  the  discussion  of 
historical  proofs,  or,  if  Great  Britain  preferred,  that  “a 
conventional  line  fixed  by  mutual  accord”  might  be 
agreed  upon.  Neither  idea,  however,  secured  the  desired 
results.  Our  Secretary  of  State  did  not  intervene;  and 
Venezuela  refused  to  accept  the  line  suggested  by  Lord 
Salisbury. 

After  various  other  proposals,  Venezuela  requested 
that  the  question  be  submitted  to  arbitration,  but  the  reply 
of  Lord  Granville,  now  Secretary  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  wholly  disregarded  the  request,  and  further  in- 


176  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

sistence  met  curt  refusal  at  the  hands  of  the  British 
ministry. 

Early  in  the  year  1885,  it  seemed  that  a  settlement  had 
been  provided  by  the  negotiation  of  a  general  treaty  be¬ 
tween  Great  Britain  and  Venezuela,  which  specified  that 
all  differences  should  be  arbitrated,  should  the  method  of 
friendly  negotiation  fail.  But  Lord  Salisbury,  who  had 
succeeded  Lord  Granville  in  the  Foreign  Office,  re¬ 
pudiated  the  treaty  in  a  note  of  July  27,  1885. 

In  December  of  the  following  year,  Secretary  Bayard 
offered  the  co-operation  of  our  government  to  England, 
to  the  end  that  the  question  might  be  decided  by  arbitra¬ 
tion,  but  Lord  Salisbury  refused  the  offer.  By  February, 
1887,  the  controversy  had  become  so  heated  that  Vene¬ 
zuela,  in  protest  against  what  she  termed  “acts  of  spolia¬ 
tion,”  suspended  diplomatic  relations  with  Great  Britain. 
Secretary  Bayard,  during  the  following  year,  called  at¬ 
tention  to  the  fact  that  Great  Britain  had  apparently  en¬ 
larged  her  boundary  claims,  thus  committing  the  United 
States  to  a  position  of  sympathy  with  Venezuela;  but  no 
action  was  taken.  And  so  the  affair  stood  until  1890,  when 
Lord  Salisbury,  to  the  astonishment  of  the  Venezuelan 
government,  declared  that,  while  Great  Britain  would 
not  waive  her  title  to  any  of  the  territory  comprised  within 
the  Schomburgk  line  which,  despite  the  objections  of 
Venezuela,  she  still  believed  to  be  correct,  and  within 
which  many  English  had  now  long  been  established,  she 
would  be  willing  to  refer  to  arbitration  her  claims  to 
certain  territory  west  of  that  line. 

Here  matters  rested  for  the  remainder  of  President 
Harrison’s  term.  Fifty-two  years  of  intermittent  contro¬ 
versy  had  done  nothing  to  settle  the  question.  The  United 
States,  when  she  had  ventured  to  touch  the  matter  at  all, 
had  done  so  with  so  uncertain  a  hand  as  to  produce  results 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 


177 

negligible  or  worse.  Fish,  Evarts,  Blaine,  Frelinghuysen, 
and  Bayard,  all  able  Secretaries  of  State,  had  considered 
the  subject.  All  had  commented  upon  its  relationship  to 
the  Monroe  Doctrine;  but,  with  the  exception  of  Secre¬ 
tary  Bayard’s  offer  of  arbitration,  no  one  of  them  had 
made  any  definite  contribution  toward  its  solution. 

England’s  position,  as  later  defined  by  Lord  Kimber¬ 
ley,  was  that  the  negotiations  between  the  two  countries 
had  led  to  no  results  because  “Venezuela  has  insisted  on 
maintaining  a  claim  extending  beyond  the  River  Esse- 
quibo  and  including  a  large  portion  of  long  settled  dis¬ 
tricts  of  the  Colony  of  British  Guiana.  On  the  other 
hand,  Great  Britain  has  throughout  been  prepared  to 
make  large  abatements  from  her  extreme  claim  although 
Her  Majesty’s  Government  has  been  continually  accu¬ 
mulating  stronger  documentary  proofs  of  the  correctness 
of  that  extreme  claim  as  being  their  inheritance  from  their 
Dutch  predecessors.” 

Upon  his  return  to  power  in  1893,  Mr.  Cleveland 
faced  the  question  in  a  new  spirit,  conscious  that  if  further 
neglected  it  might  prove  serious,  in  view  of  the  tendency 
of  the  nations  of  Europe  to  seek  an  extension  of  their  ter¬ 
ritory  at  the  expense  of  weak  and  backward  peoples,  and 
of  the  equally  apparent  tendency  of  South  American 
countries  to  use  the  name  of  the  United  States  as  a  shield 
against  Europe  in  times  of  danger,  while  insisting  upon 
absolute  freedom  of  action  when  no  danger  threatened. 

Mr.  Cleveland  was  by  nature  disposed  to  suspect 
strong  nations  of  designs  against  weaker  ones,  a  tendency 
which  his  experiences  with  Germany  in  Samoa  and  the 
United  States  in  Hawaii  had  not  lessened.  He  was  also 
a  firm  believer  in  arbitration  as  a  means  of  settling  inter¬ 
national  disputes;  but,  in  the  case  of  Venezuela,  England 
had  shown  little  disposition  to  consider  that  method,  and 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


178 

he  felt  that  the  time  had  come  when  the  question  must  be 
settled,  peacefully  if  possible,  but  settled.  Secretary 
Gresham  was  also  an  enthusiast  for  arbitration,  while 
Thomas  F.  Bayard,  now  Ambassador  to  the  Court  of  St. 
James,  felt  that  America  and  Great  Britain  were  commit¬ 
ted  to  this  principle.  In  the  hands  of  these  three  men 
rested  the  decision  of  America’s  course  regarding  the 
Venezuelan  boundary.  All  three  believed  that  powerless 
nations  are  entitled  to  the  same  rights  as  are  powerful  na¬ 
tions,  and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  latter  to  see  that  these 
rights  are  respected.  All  three  believed  in  the  special  re¬ 
sponsibility  of  the  United  States  to  see  that  the  American 
continent  be  left  in  the  freest  enjoyment  of  the  right  of 
self-determination  as  guaranteed  by  the  Monroe  Doctrine. 
If  it  were  true,  as  Secretary  Bayard  had  said,  that  the 
United  States  had  a  moral  right  to  protect  the  sovereign 
independence  of  the  distant,  dark-skinned  peoples  of  the 
far  Pacific,  then  was  it  more  than  a  moral  right,  it  was  a 
moral  duty,  to  see  that  nations  covered  by  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  were  similarly  protected. 

Shortly  after  Ambassador  Bayard  took  up  his  post  in 
Condon,  he  wrote  to  Secretary  Gresham  that  the  time  was 
ripe  for  a  settlement  of  the  Venezuelan  boundary  dispute : 
“Great  Britain  has  just  now  her  hands  very  full  in  other 
quarters  of  the  globe.  The  United  States  is  the  last  nation 
on  earth  with  whom  the  British  people  or  their  rulers 
desire  to  quarrel,  and  of  this  I  have  new  proofs  every  day 
in  my  intercourse  with  them.  The  other  European  na¬ 
tions  are  watching  each  other  like  pugilists  in  the  ring.” 
To  the  diplomatic  mind  of  our  Ambassador,  England’s 
necessity  was  America’s  opportunity,  and  the  determina¬ 
tion  to  force  arbitration  upon  a  hard-pressed,  friendly 
nation  at  a  moment  when  she  was  considered  not  free  to 
refuse,  was  both  ungenerous  and  unfair,  especially  in  view 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR  1 79 

of  the  fact  that  Great  Britain  had  as  her  Ambassador  at 
Washington  Sir  Julian  Pauncefote,  a  man  whom  Secre¬ 
tary  Gresham  himself  described  as  candid,  fair,  and  an 
open  fighter,  although  “a  firm  supporter  of  British  inter¬ 
ests.” 

On  December  1,  1894,  Gresham  instructed  Bayard  to 
open  the  question  by  pointing  out  to  the  British  govern¬ 
ment  that  “England  and  America  are  fully  committed  to 
the  principle  of  arbitration  and  this  Government  will 
gladly  do  what  it  can  do  to  further  a  determination  in  that 
sense.”  As  Bayard  proceeded,  the  old  difficulties  reap¬ 
peared.  In  a  confidential  dispatch  of  April  5,  1895,  he 
reported  that  Lord  Kimberley  had  shown  him  a  map  of 
the  disputed  territory  “on  which  were  delineated,  in  dif¬ 
ferent  colors,  the  three  lines  of  delimitation.  The  line 
coloured  in  pink  was  the  Schomburgk  line,  one  of  the  ter¬ 
minal  points  of  which  was  a  short  distance  inside  the 
mouth  of  the  Orinoco,  and  which  His  Lordship  stated 
was  conclusively  proven  and  established  as  a  British  pos¬ 
session,  and  would  not  be  submitted  to  arbitration,  but 
that  the  ownership  of  the  territory  intersected  by  the  other 
two  lines,  they  would  be  willing  to  submit  to  arbitration.” 

Upon  the  receipt  of  this  dispatch,  Gresham  began  the 
preparation  of  a  report  for  the  guidance  of  the  govern¬ 
ment  during  the  negotiations,  but  before  the  work  was 
completed,  death  intervened.  His  loss  was  a  severe  blow 
to  Mr.  Cleveland,  both  personally  and  officially.  On  the 
train  in  which  the  remains  were  taken  to  the  widow’s 
home  in  Chicago,  he  showed  the  depth  of  his  grief.  He 
sat  for  a  long  time  absorbed  in  thought.  At  length  he 
asked  one  of  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  to  escort  him 
forward  to  the  baggage  car  where  the  coffin  was  carried, 
and,  arriving  there,  indicated  a  wish  to  be  left  alone.  An 
hour  or  so  later,  as  he  had  not  returned  to  his  stateroom, 


i8o 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


two  members  of  the  Cabinet  went  forward  to  the  funeral 
car,  fearing  that  he  had  been  overcome  by  the  heat  or  that 
some  accident  had  happened.  They  found  the  President 
on  his  knees  by  the  bier  of  the  dead  Secretary,  his  arms 
resting  upon  the  coffin,  his  eyes  full  of  tears.  Apparently 
he  had  no  notion  of  the  flight  of  time.  He  was  assisted 
to  rise  to  his  feet,  and  was  then  escorted  back  to  his  state¬ 
room.  In  this  apartment  he  remained  during  the  remain¬ 
der  of  the  journey,  and  a  servant  who  went  to  take  the 
President’s  orders  found  him  lying  in  his  berth,  his  face 
buried  in  the  pillows. 

Ten  days  later,  Attorney-General  Olney  was  made 
Secretary  of  State.  He  spent  the  remainder  of  the  month 
in  Washington,  studying  the  documents  upon  which  Sec¬ 
retary  Gresham  had  been  intent  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
As  a  result,  early  in  July,  he  went  to  Gray  Gables,  and 
left  with  the  President  the  draft  of  a  letter  written  to 
Ambassador  Bayard  regarding  the  Venezuelan  question. 
It  was  a  statement  of  startling  boldness,  which,  after  care¬ 
ful  consideration,  Mr.  Cleveland  approved,  conditionally, 
in  the  following  letter : 

Gray  Gables, 

Buzzards  Bay,  Mass., 

July  7 ,  1895. 

My  dear  Mr.  Olney, 

About  five  hours  ago  our  family  was  augmented  by  the 
addition  of  a  strong  plump  loud  voiced  little  girl.  Mother 
and  daughter  doing  well — also  the  “old  man.” 

I  want  to  thank  you  for  the  rubber  gloves  which  came 
last  night.  If  the  blue  fish  will  hang  around  here  a  little 
while  longer  I  will  test  their  effectiveness. 

I  read  your  deliverance  on  Venezuelan  affairs  the  day 
you  left  it  with  me.  It’s  the  best  thing  of  the  kind  I  have 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR  l8l 

ever  read  and  it  leads  to  a  conclusion  that  one  cannot 
escape  if  he  tries — that  is  if  there  is  anything  of  the  Mon¬ 
roe  Doctrine  at  all.  You  show  there  is  a  great  deal  of 
that  and  place  it  I  think  on  better  and  more  defensible 
ground  than  any  of  your  predecessors — or  mine . 

Of  course  I  have  some  suggestions  to  make.  I  always 
have.  Some  of  them  are  not  of  much  account  and  some 
of  them  propose  a  little  more  softened  verbiage  here  and 
there. 

What  day  after  Wednesday  of  this  week  can  you  come 
and  spend  a  few  hours  with  me  so  that  we  can  go  over  it 
together?  Mrs.  Cleveland  sends  love  to  Mrs.  Olney. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Richard  Olney, 

Falmouth,  Mass. 

After  a  conference  between  Olney,  Herbert,  Carlisle, 
Harmon  and  Lamont,  the  letter  was  again  revised,  put  on 
official  State  Department  paper,  was  dated  the  20th,  and 
forwarded.  The  “verbiage”  had  been  somewhat  softened, 
but  was  still  far  from  soft.  Indeed,  so  strong  were  its  terse 
paragraphs  that  Mr.  Cleveland  later  christened  it 
“Olney’s  twenty-inch  gun.” 

It  followed  the  line  of  facts  which  Secretary  Gresham 
had  worked  out,  but  it  did  not  follow  his  views  regarding 
procedure.  To  Isidore  Straus,  who  suggested,  “Mr. 
Olney  has  stolen  your  husband’s  thunder,”  Mrs.  Gresham 
replied:  “No,  there  was  to  be  no  ultimatum  as  my  hus¬ 
band  had  prepared  it,  and  Mr.  Olney  and  President 
Cleveland  are  entitled  to  all  the  credit  for  such  a  state 
paper.”  That  the  credit  was,  or  should  be  real,  Mr. 
Cleveland  never  doubted.  Seven  years  before  his  death, 
speaking  in  Princeton,  he  declared:  “In  no  event  will 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


182 

the  American  principle  [the  Monroe  Doctrine]  ever  be 
better  defined,  better  defended,  or  more  bravely  asserted 
than  was  done  by  Mr.  Olney  in  this  dispatch.” 

For  several  months,  the  British  Foreign  Office  re¬ 
mained  silent,  and  when  the  time  came  for  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land’s  third  annual  message,  he  had  nothing  new  to  report. 
He,  therefore,  contented  himself  with  the  statement  that 
the  general  conclusions  of  the  Olney  dispatch  “are  in  sub¬ 
stance  that  the  traditional  and  established  policy  of  this 
Government  is  firmly  opposed  to  a  forcible  increase  by 
any  European  power  of  its  territorial  possessions  on  this 
Continent  .  .  . ;  that  as  a  consequence  the  United  States 
is  bound  to  protest  against  the  enlargement  of  the  area  of 
British  Guiana  in  derogation  of  the  rights  and  against  the 
will  of  Venezuela;  that  considering  the  disparity  in 
strength  of  Great  Britain  and  Venezuela,  the  territorial 
dispute  between  them  can  be  reasonably  settled  only  by 
friendly  and  impartial  arbitration.”  In  view  of  these 
facts,  he  informed  Congress,  “the  dispatch  in  question 
called  upon  Great  Britain  for  a  definite  answer  to  the 
question,  whether  it  would  or  would  not  submit  the  terri¬ 
torial  controversy  ...  in  its  entirety  to  impartial  arbi¬ 
tration.” 

Clearly  he  did  not  regard  his  action  as  involving  any 
new  principle.  He  was  merely  preparing  to  protect  an¬ 
other  impotent  sovereign  power,  menaced,  he  believed, 
as  had  been  Samoa  and  Hawaii,  by  a  nation  strong  enough 
to  work  her  will  if  left  unchallenged.  Moreover,  unlike 
Samoa  and  Hawaii,  Venezuela  was  within  the  area  cov¬ 
ered  by  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  he  felt  that  any  Euro¬ 
pean  nation,  suspected  of  an  attempt  to  control  the  desti¬ 
nies  of  an  American  state,  either  by  forcible  invasion  or 
by  the  no  less  effective  method  of  extending  boundary 
lines,  should  submit  her  course  to  the  investigation  of  im- 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 


183 

partial  arbiters.  He  felt  also  that  it  was  entirely  proper 
to  call  upon  her  to  do  so.  Whether  or  not  she  would  con¬ 
sent,  he  made  no  attempt  to  predict. 

The  message  off  his  mind,  he  decided  to  pay  a  visit  to 
the  wilderness  where,  free  from  the  exactions  of  official 
routine,  he  might  think  out  alone  a  course  of  conduct  to 
be  pursued  when  Lord  Salisbury’s  long  delayed  answer 
should  arrive.  He  therefore  wrote  to  Olney: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

Dec .  3,  1895 . 

Dear  Mr.  Olney, 

I  want  very  much  to  go  away  this  week  Thursday 
and  stay  until  next  week — say  Friday  or  some  such  matter. 

Can  I  do  so?  I  will  have  all  the  nominations  to  go  in 
signed  and  they  can  be  sent  in  by  instalments  during  my 
absence. 

The  only  thing  I  am  hesitating  about  is  the  state  of 
some  things  in  your  Department. 

You  cannot  receive  anything  from  Bayard  or  Sir 
Julian  before  the  early  part  of  next  week.  Why  can  you 
not  put  the  thing  in  your  pocket,  so  that  no  one  will  know 
you  have  heard  it  read  or  at  least  that  you  have  it  in  pos¬ 
session,  until  I  return?  In  the  meantime  if  its  transmis¬ 
sion  should  be  accompanied  by  any  particular  message 
you  can,  if  you  have  time,  be  blocking  it  out. 

If  I  were  here  I  would  not  be  hurried  in  the  matter 
even  if  the  Congress  should  begin  grinding  again  the 
resolution-of-inquiry  mill. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Richard  Olney, 

Secretary  of  State. 

A  few  days  later  John  Bassett  Moore,  a  loyal  sup¬ 
porter  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s,  sent  to  Postmaster  General 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


184 

Wilson  a  twelve-page  letter  of  protest  against  the  Presi¬ 
dent’s  position. 

“I  am  apprehensive,”  he  said,  “that,  unless  great  judg¬ 
ment  is  exercised,  the  President’s  announcement  will 
prove  to  have  started  us  on  a  course  that  involves  not  only 
the  abandonment  of  all  our  traditions,  but  also  our  par¬ 
ticipation  in  numberless  quarrels. 

“The  statement  that  the  question  can  be  reasonably 
settled  only  by  such  arbitration  as  Venezuela  proposes, 
certainly  was  not  based  on  any  examination  of  the  merits 
of  the  subject. 

'  “The  whole  system  of  arbitration  presupposes  that 
nations  will  be  reasonable  in  their  claims.  The  claim  of 
Venezuela  to  all  territory  west  of  the  Essequibo  is  not  a 
scrupulous  claim.  .  .  .  Instead  of  asserting  that  arbitra¬ 
tion  is  the  only  reasonable  way  of  settling  the  question,  I 
should  say  that  it  would  be  a  very  unsatisfactory  way  of 
attempting  it;  and  in  so  saying  I  do  not  forget  that  Lord 
Granville  once  consented  to  lump  boundary  and  all  other 
questions  in  a  general  arbitration. 

“We  have  arbitrated  boundary  disputes  and  so  has 
Great  Britain,  but  never,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  where  a 
line  had  not  previously  been  agreed  upon  by  direct  nego¬ 
tiation.  Governments  are  not  in  the  habit  of  resigning 
their  functions  so  completely  into  the  hands  of  arbitrators 
as  to  say,  ‘We  have  no  boundaries;  make  some  for  us.’ 
.  .  .  It  would  be  at  least  unusual  to  leave  it  to  arbitrators 
to  make  a  boundary.  .  .  . 

“.  .  .  Boundaries  in  South  America  have  almost  uni¬ 
versally  been  settled  on  the  basis  of  the  uti  possidetis ,  as 
the  only  practicable  basis  of  peaceful  adjustment.” 

The  opinion  of  Mr.  Moore  (and  his  is  an  opinion 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR  185 

which  all  nations  will  be  disposed  to  treat  with  considera¬ 
tion),  was  extremely  unfavorable  to  Venezuela. 

“For  twenty  years,”  he  continued,  “Venezuela,  instead 
of  settling  her  boundary  dispute,  has  in  various  ways, 
some  of  them  obviously  dishonest,  been  trying  to  drag  the 
United  States  into  the  dispute,  and  the  United  States  has 
progressed  good-naturedly  step  by  step,  without  exam¬ 
ining  the  merits  of  the  case,  till  at  length  with  a  sudden 
impulse  it  leaps  over  the  precipice  blindly.  And  what  is 
the  position  we  now  hold  ?  It  is  substantially  this :  ‘When 
a  weak  American  republic  asserts  a  claim  to  territory  in 
America  as  against  a  strong  European  occupant,  and 
offers  to  submit  its  claim  to  arbitration,  the  European 
power,  if  it  refuses  the  offer,  is  to  be  considered  as  holding 
the  territory  by  force,  and  as  infringing  the  Monroe  Doc¬ 
trine.’  This  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  our  position.  .  .  . 

“We  now  address  Venezuela  substantially  thus :  ‘You 
are  an  American  republic,  and  in  your  claims  against 
European  powers  we  back  you.  True  you  settled  your 
southern  boundary  directly,  on  the  basis  of  the  uti  possi¬ 
detis ,  but  this  principle,  though  applicable  everywhere 
else  in  South  America,  is  inapplicable  to  your  eastern 
boundary.  Even  the  great  doctrine  of  prescription,  recog¬ 
nized  by  every  publicist  from  the  time  of  Grotius,  and 
the  very  foundation  of  the  peace  of  nations,  is  not  applica¬ 
ble  to  that  boundary.  Claim  what  you  will,  and  propose 
arbitration  of  it,  and  I  will  step  in  and  say  that  it  shall 
be  settled  in  no  other  way.  I  know  nothing  of  the  merits 
of  the  controversy.  I  am  simply  backing  you.  This  is 
according  to  the  Monroe  Doctrine.’  Of  course,  the  Presi¬ 
dent  never  intended  to  say  any  such  thing,  but  when  we 
examine  the  facts',  we  find  that  it  is  precisely  what  he  has 
said.” 

In  concluding  his  letter,  Mr.  Moore  expressed  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


1 86 

belief  that  President  Cleveland  would  “not  be  willing  to 
launch  his  country  on  a  career  as  mad  and  as  fatal  as  that 
on  which  France  was  started  by  Louis  XIV.” 

But  the  President  had  definitely  decided,  before  send¬ 
ing  the  Olney  dispatch,  that  light  must  be  thrown  upon 
the  British  claims.  Should  the  British  Foreign  Office 
refuse  to  throw  the  light,  he  would  be  compelled  to  have 
it  thrown  for  her  by  the  United  States.  This  decided,  he 
“cut  bait,”  and  waited. 

While  Mr.  Cleveland  pondered,  Mr.  Olney  studied 
two  dispatches  from  Lord  Salisbury,  dated  November  26, 
1 895,  which  Sir  Julian  Pauncefote  had  delivered  soon 
after  the  President’s  departure.  In  the  first,  while  de¬ 
claring  that  the  Monroe  Doctrine  had  “received  the  entire 
sympathy  of  the  English  Government,”  his  Lordship 
frankly  declined  to  accept  Mr.  Olney’s  interpretation  of 
that  doctrine  as  applicable  to  the  boundary  dispute  be¬ 
tween  Great  Britain  and  Venezuela,  “a  controversy  with 
which  the  United  States  have  no  apparent  practical  con¬ 
cern.”  He  emphatically  denied  our  right  to  demand, 
“that  when  a  European  power  has  a  frontier  difference 
with  a  South  American  community,  the  European  power 
shall  consent  to  refer  that  controversy  to  arbitration,”  and 
insisted  that  Secretary  Olney  had  misapprehended  the 
meaning  of  America’s  historic  policy. 

His  second  dispatch  was  an  historical  brief  in  justi¬ 
fication  of  England’s  course  with  reference  to  the  Vene¬ 
zuelan  boundary  line,  from  the  conquest  and  military  oc¬ 
cupation  of  the  Dutch  settlements  in  1796.  In  general 
terms  he  designated  the  territory  to  which  her  Majesty’s 
government  was  entitled  as  being  embraced  within  the 
lines  of  the  claim  which  she  had  presented  from  the  first, 
and  added  :  “A  portion  of  that  claim,  however,  they  have 
always  been  willing  to  waive  altogether;  in  regard  to 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR  1 87 

another  portion  they  have  been  and  continue  to  be  per¬ 
fectly  ready  to  submit  the  question  of  their  title  to  arbi¬ 
tration.  As  regards  the  rest,  that  which  lies  within  the 
so-called  Schomburgk  line,  they  do  not  consider  that  the 
rights  of  Great  Britain  are  open  to  question.  Even  within 
that  line  they  have  on  various  occasions  offered  to  Vene¬ 
zuela  considerable  concessions  as  a  matter  of  friendship 
and  conciliation  and  for  the  purpose  of  securing  an 
amicable  settlement  of  the  dispute.  If,  as  time  has  gone 
on,  the  concessions  thus  offered  have  been  withdrawn,  this 
has  been  the  necessary  consequence  of  the  gradual  spread 
over  the  country  of  British  settlements,  which  Her 
Majesty’s  Government  cannot  in  justice  to  the  inhabitants 
offer  to  surrender  to  foreign  rule.” 

In  conclusion  Lord  Salisbury  asserted  that  his  gov¬ 
ernment  had  “repeatedly  expressed  their  readiness  to 
submit  to  arbitration  the  conflicting  claims  of  Great  Brit¬ 
ain  and  Venezuela  to  large  tracts  of  territory  which  from 
their  auriferous  nature  are  known  to  be  of  almost  untold 
value.  But  they  cannot  consent  to  entertain,  or  to  submit 
to  the  arbitration  of  another  power  or  of  foreign  jurists 
however  eminent,  claims  based  on  the  extravagant  pre¬ 
tensions  of  Spanish  officials  in  the  last  century  and  involv¬ 
ing  the  transfer  of  large  numbers  of  British  subjects,  who 
have  for  many  years  enjoyed  the  settled  rule  of  a  British 
colony,  to  a  nation  of  different  race  and  language,  whose 
political  system  is  subject  to  frequent  disturbance,  and 
whose  institutions  as  yet  too  often  afford  very  inadequate 
protection  to  life  and  property.” 

In  commenting  on  these  dispatches,  Mr.  Bayard  wrote 
to  the  President  on  December  4th:  “The  replies  of  Lord 
Salisbury  to  your  Venezuelan  instructions  are  in  good 
temper  and  moderate  in  tone.  Our  difficulty  lies  in  the 
wholly  unreliable  character  of  the  Venezuelan  rulers  and 


1 88 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


people,  and  results  in  an  almost  undefinable,  and  there¬ 
fore  dangerous,  responsibility  for  the  conduct  by  them  of 
their  own  affairs.  I  believe,  however,  that  your  interpre¬ 
tation  of  this  boundary  dispute  will  check  efficiently  the 
tendency  to  ‘land  grabbing’  in  South  America,  which  is 
rather  an  Anglo-Saxon  disposition  everywhere.” 

To  Secretary  Olney,  however,  Lord  Salisbury’s  dis¬ 
patches  were  far  from  satisfactory,  and  by  the  time  the 
President  returned  to  Washington  Mr.  Olney  had  formed 
definite  ideas  as  to  the  reply  which  should  be  sent  and  had 
embodied  them  in  a  set  of  suggestions  for  a  special  mes¬ 
sage  to  Congress  as  strong  and  unyielding  as  had  been  his 
“twenty-inch  gun.”  He  advised  the  President  to  ask  for 
an  appropriation  to  meet  the  expenses  of  a  commission  to 
determine  what  the  true  line  between  Venezuela  and  Brit¬ 
ish  Guiana  should  be,  and  added  significantly:  “When 
such  report  is  made  and  accepted,  it  will  be  the  duty  of 
this  Government  to  communicate  to  Great  Britain  the 
boundary  line  thus  ascertained  and  to  give  notice  that  any 
appropriation  of  territory  or  exercise  of  jurisdiction  by 
Great  Britain  beyond  that  line  (except  with  the  consent 
of  Venezuela)  will  be  regarded  by  this  Government  as  a 
wilful  aggression  upon  the  rights  and  interests  of  the 
United  States  which  this  Government  cannot  suffer  to  go 
undefended.” 

Armed  with  this  document,  Mr.  Olney  met  the  re¬ 
turning  President,  was  closeted  with  him  for  a  few  hours, 
and  retired.  Mr.  Cleveland  spent  the  remainder  of  the 
night  at  his  desk,  and  by  dawn  had  the  draft  of  a  message 
ready  for  the  copyist.  At  ten  o’clock  he  received  a  fair 
copy,  which  he  revised,  and  by  noon  his  most  famous 
state  paper  was  ready. 

In  the  message  as  finally  sent  to  Congress  on  December 
17,  1 895,  about  ninety  per  cent  of  Mr.  Olney’s  sentences 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR  1 89 

were  discarded;  but  his  most  menacing  phrases  were  re¬ 
tained,  and  explain  the  later  contention  that  the  Venezuela 
Message  was  “a  New  England  document,  written  by  a 
New  Englander.”  It  was,  however,  Cleveland’s  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  Monroe’s  most  famous  message  was 
Monroe’s,  although  drafted  by  John  Quincy  Adams,  and 
as  Washington’s  Neutrality  Proclamation  was  Wash¬ 
ington’s,  although  showing  traces  of  the  pens  of  more 
than  one  eminent  man  of  the  time.  In  each  case  the 
responsibility  rested  upon  the  President,  and  upon  him 
alone. 

The  message  itself  was  brief.  It  is  summed  up  in  the 
words : 

« 

“The  answer  of  the  British  Government  .  .  .  claims 
that  ...  a  new  and  strange  extension  and  development 
of  this  [the  Monroe]  doctrine  is  insisted  on  by  the  United 
States;  .  .  .  that  the  reasons  justifying  an  appeal  to  the 
doctrine  .  .  .  are  inapplicable.  .  .  . 

“If  a  Europeah  power  by  an  extension  of  its  bound¬ 
aries  takes  possession  of  the  territory  of  one  of  our  neigh¬ 
boring  republics  against  its  will  and  in  derogation  of  its 
rights  .  .  .  this  is  the  precise  action  which  President 
Monroe  declared  to  be  ‘dangerous  to  our  peace  and 
safety,’  and  it  can  make  no  difference  whether  the  Euro¬ 
pean  system  is  extended  by  an  advance  of  frontier  or 
otherwise.  .  .  . 

“The  dispute  has  reached  such  a  stage  as  to  make  it 
now  incumbent  on  the  United  States  to  take  measures  to 
determine  .  .  .  the  true  division  line  between  the  Re¬ 
public  of  Venezuela  and  British  Guiana.  .  .  .  When 
such  report  is  made  ...  it  will  ...  be  the  duty  of  the 
United  States  to  resist  by  every  means  in  its  power  .  .  . 
the  appropriation  by  Great  Britain  of  any  lands  .  .  . 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


190 

which  after  investigation  we  have  determined  of  right 
belong  to  Venezuela. 

“In  making  these  recommendations  I  am  fully  alive 
to  the  responsibility  incurred  and  keenly  realize  all  the 
consequences  that  may  follow.  .  .  .  There  is  no  calamity 
which  a  great  nation  can  invite  which  equals  that  which 
follows  a  supine  submission  to  wrong.  ...” 

With  the  text  of  the  message,  the  press  received  also 
the  texts  of  Secretary  Olney’s  note  and  of  Lord  Salisbury’s 
two  replies.  There  was  no  attempt  to  conceal  from  the 
people  the  extreme  gravity  of  the  situation. 

Thus  was  the  issue  squarely  drawn  between  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain,  and  for  once  the  President  had 
the  practically  unanimous  approval  of  the  members  of 
both  houses  of  Congress,  regardless  of  politics. 

In  his  account  of  the  reception  of  the  message  by  Con¬ 
gress,  the  New  York  Herald's  Washington  correspondent 
telegraphed:  “All  the  traditions  of  the  Senate  were  cast 
to  the  winds  when  the  message  was  read  in  that  body,  for 
the  chamber  rang  with  applause,  in  which  the  Republi¬ 
cans  seemed  to  take  even  a  more  hearty  part  than  the 
Democrats.  In  the  House,  the  President’s  vigorous  ex¬ 
pressions  were  cheered  to  the  echo  .  .  .  Republicans 
.  .  .  as  enthusiastic  ...  as  their  political  opponents. 
It  is  long  since  any  President’s  message  has  had  such  a 
reception.” 

The  first  British  mail  brought  an  anxious  letter  to  the 
President: 

Personal 

Embassy  of  the  United  States,  London 

Dec.  18 ,  1895. 

Dear  Mr.  President: 

With  this  note  I  send  you  the  Times  of  this  morn¬ 
ing — in  order  that  you  may  perceive  the  tone  of  average 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 


191 

British  comment  on  your  message  to  Congress  and  posi¬ 
tion  in  relation  to  the  Venezuelan-Guiana  boundary  dis¬ 
pute  and  claim  of  right  and  duty  under  American  policy 
as  laid  down  by  President  Monroe  to  insist  upon  a  sub¬ 
mission  of  questions,  touching  the  territorial  jurisdiction 
of  South  American  states  to  international  arbitration — 
I  send  to  the  Secretary  of  State  fuller — or  rather  more 
numerous — public  expressions  on  the  subject — which 
while  varying  in  phrase  and  tone — are  entirely  at  one  on 
the  main  point,  i.e.,  of  opposition  to  the  propositions  laid 
down  in  your  message,  and  the  instructions  of  the  State 
Department  conveyed  to  this  Embassy — 

In  my  correspondence  while  I  was  Secretary  of  State 
— also  with  Judge  Gresham  since  I  came  here — and  per¬ 
sonally  with  you — my  opinions  have  been  genuinely 
stated — and  as  the  Venezuelan  transactions  and  history 
are  unfolded  I  am  not  able  to  shake  off  a  grave  sense  of 
apprehension  in  allowing  the  interests  and  welfare  of  our 
Country  to  be  imperilled  or  complicated  by  such  a  gov¬ 
ernment  and  people  as  those  of  Venezuela. 

It  is  not  needful  that  I  should  repeat  these  views — and 
I  now  wish  to  study  carefully  and  deliberately  the  situa¬ 
tion  as  it  exhibits  itself  under  the  light  suddenly  cast  upon 
this  profoundly  important  question — which  includes  in  its 
principles  and  treatment  every  European  claim  of  owner¬ 
ship  and  control  of  soil  in  the  western  hemisphere — 
May  peace,  happiness  and  health  dwell  in  your  home 
— and  throughout  the  country  you  have  served  so  un¬ 
selfishly  and  faithfully — 

Sincerely  yours 

The  President  T.  F.  Bayard. 

of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Bayard’s  letter  showed  that  he  was  mystified  and 
uncertain  regarding  the  exact  position  of  the  President, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


192 

whose  views  he  was  to  interpret  to  the  British  government 
and  to  the  British  people.  Mr.  Cleveland  therefore  sent 
the  following  reply: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

December  2Q,  1895. 

My  dear  Mr.  Bayard: 

I  thank  you  sincerely  for  the  hunting  stool  you  kindly 
sent  me,  and  I  hope  I  may  have  abundant  occasion  to  re¬ 
call  by  its  use  your  thoughtfulness. 

I  am  very  sorry  indeed  that  I  cannot  fully  understand 
your  very  apparent  thought  and  feeling  on  the  Vene¬ 
zuelan  question ;  and  you  must  believe  me  to  be  entirely 
sincere  when  I  say  that  I  think  my  want  of  understanding 
on  the  subject  is  somehow  my  own  fault. 

You  cannot  fail  to  remember  my  inclination,  during 
my  former  incumbency  of  this  office,  to  avoid  a  doctrine 
which  I  knew  to  be  troublesome  and  upon  which  I  had 
nothing  like  your  clear  conception  and  information.  I 
knew  that  your  predecessors  for  many  years,  and  you  as 
well,  regarded  the  Monroe  doctrine  as  important,  and  I 
supposed  that  when  it  was  frequently  quoted  by  you  and 
them  in  treating  of  this  very  question  of  Venezuelan 
boundary,  it  was  so  quoted  because  it  was  deemed  to  have 
relation  to  that  question.  Not  being  able  to  perceive  how 
a  doctrine  could  have  any  life  or  could  do  any  good  or 
harm,  unless  it  was  applicable  to  a  condition  of  facts  that 
might  arise,  and  unless  when  applied  all  consequences 
must  be  appreciated  and  awaited,  I  was  quite  willing  if 
possible  within  the  limits  of  inexorable  duty,  to  escape 
its  serious  contemplation. 

I  remember  too  how  kindly  and  considerately  you 
used  to  speak  of  and  treat  the  people  and  the  governments 
of  South  America,  though  fully  understanding  their 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 


193 

weaknesses  and  faults,  and  how  much,  through  your  treat¬ 
ment  of  them  these  countries  became  attached  to  the  Ad¬ 
ministration.  Very  few  incidents  attended  my  last  com¬ 
ing  to  Washington,  more  pleasing  than  the  heartiness  with 
which  the  representatives  of  Central  and  South  America 
welcomed  me.  These  considerations  are  not,  however,  of 
importance  since  in  an  application  of  the  Monroe  doc¬ 
trine,  though  another  country  may  give  the  occasion f  we 
are  I  suppose  not  looking  after  its  interests  but  our  own. 

Events  accompanying  the  growth  of  this  Venezuelan 
question  have  recently  forced  a  fuller  examination  of  this 
question  upon  me  and  have  also  compelled  us  to  assume  a 
position  in  regard  to  it. 

I  am  entirely  clear  that  the  doctrine  is  not  obsolete, 
and  it  should  be  defended  and  maintained  for  its  value 
and  importance  to  our  government  and  welfare ,  and  that 
its  defense  and  maintenance  involve  its  application  when 
a  state  of  facts  arises  requiring  it. 

In  this  state  of  mind  I  am  positive  that  I  can  never 
be  made  to  see  why  the  extension  of  European  systems, 
territory,  and  jurisdiction,  on  our  continent,  may  not  be 
effected  as  surely  and  as  unwarrantably  under  the  guise 
of  boundary  claims  as  by  invasion  or  any  other  means. 
In  1888  you  called  Mr.  Phelps’  attention  to  the  apparent 
enlargement  of  Great  Britain’s  boundary  claims  between 
the  years  1877  and  1887,  and  I  think  within  a  year  you 
have  referred  us  to  the  same  or  other  enlargements.  I 
have  not  failed  to  notice  the  stress  laid  by  Lord  Salisbury 
upon  the  fact  that  settlements  have  been  made  by  British 
subjects  whose  allegiance  might  be  disturbed  if  England’s 
insistence  was  found  to  be  incorrect. 

We  do  not  say,  either  that  Great  Britain’s  boundary 
claim  is  false,  nor  that  the  enlargement  of  her  claims 
toward  the  centre  of  Venezuela  as  now  known,  is  unjusti- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


194 

fiable  beyond  a  doubt,  nor  that  the  settlements  upon  the 
territory  claimed  by  Venezuela,  have  been  brought  about 
or  encouraged  while  delay  in  settling  the  boundary  has 
been  prompted  or  permitted;  nor  do  we  attach  too  much 
prejudicial  importance  to  other  facts  and  considerations 
within  our  view,  but  we  do  say  that  these  things  and  others 
furnished  a  controversy  in  which  we  were  interested,  that 
this  controversy  was  complicated  by  facts  so  disputed  that 
it  presented  a  case  which  of  all  cases  that  can  be  imagined 
should  be  subjected  to  the  sifting  and  examination  which 
impartial  arbitration  affords. 

The  refusal  to  refer  the  question  to  such  determina¬ 
tion  was  intensely  disappointing. 

It  was  disappointing  because  we  cannot  see  the  force 
of  the  reasons  given  for  refusal. 

After  a  little  hesitation,  just  here,  I  shall  mention  an¬ 
other  reason  for  disappointment  and  chagrin,  which  I 
believe  to  be  entirely  irrelevant  to  the  case  and  which  has 
had  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  any  action  I  have 
taken.  It  would  have  been  exceedingly  gratifying  and  a 
very  handsome  thing  for  Great  Britain  to  do,  if,  in  the 
midst  of  all  this  Administration  has  had  to  do  in  attempts 
to  stem  the  tide  of  “jingoism,”  she  had  yielded  or  rather 
conceded  something  (if  she  called  it  so,  which  I  do  not) 
for  our  sake.  In  our  relations  with  her  we  have  been 
open,  honest  and  fair,  except  as  to  settling  or  providing 
for  the  adjustment  of  claims  for  Behring  Sea  seizures.  I 
am  ashamed  of  the  conduct  of  Congress  in  that  matter  but 
it  is  understood  everywhere  how  persistent  the  Admin¬ 
istration  has  been  in  efforts  to  have  the  right  thing 
done. 

The  insistence  upon  a  principle  or  the  assertion  of  a 
right  should  be  the  same  in  the  case  of  England  as  Chili; 
and  I  do  not  see,  the  necessity  actually  arising,  that  former 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 


195 

relations  or  anything  of  that  sort  should  prevent  action  or 
change  the  course  of  action,  except  that  good  relations, 
etc.,  might  induce  a  nation  to  acquiesce  in  arbitration 
when  not  obliged  to  do  so,  in  aid  of  the  ascertainment  of 
facts  which  a  friendly  power  felt  should  be  developed  to 
relieve  it  from  embarrassment. 

Great  Britain  says  she  has  a  flawless  case.  Our  interest 
in  the  question  led  us  to  ask  her  to  exhibit  that  case 
in  a  tribunal  above  all  others  recognized  as  a  proper 
one  for  that  purpose;  and  this  was  done  to  avoid  a 
wrong  procedure  on  our  part  in  a  matter  we  could  not 
pass  by. 

Great  Britain  has  refused  our  request.  What  is  to  be 
done?  We  certainly  ought  not,  we  certainly  cannot  aban¬ 
don  the  case  because  she  says  she  is  right,  nor  because  she 
refuses  arbitration.  We  do  not  threaten  nor  invite  war 
because  she  refuses — far  from  it.  We  do  not  propose  to 
proceed  to  extremities,  leaving  open  any  chance  that  can 
be  guarded  against,  of  a  mistake  on  our  part  as  to  the 
facts.  So  instead  of  threatening  war  for  nor  arbitrating, 
we  simply  say  inasmuch  as  Great  Britain  will  not  aid  us 
in  fixing  the  facts,  we  will  not  go  to  war  but  do  the  best  we 
can  to  discover  the  true  state  of  facts  for  ourselves,  with  all 
the  facilities  at  our  command.  When  with  all  this,  we 
become  as  certain  as  we  can  be,  in  default  of  Great  Brit¬ 
ain’s  co-operation,  that  she  has  seized  the  territory  and 
superseded  the  jurisdiction  of  Venezuela — that  is  a  dif¬ 
ferent  matter. 

I  feel  that  I  would  like  you  to  know  precisely  what  is 
in  my  mind  and  therefore  I  have  hastily  written  you,  with¬ 
out  the  least  hint  of  it  to  any  person  whatever  and  with¬ 
out  the  least  consultation. 

It  seems  as  if  all  the  troubles  and  perplexities  that  can 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


196 

gather  about  the  office  I  hold,  were  just  at  this  time,  mak¬ 
ing  a  combined  assault. 

As  ever 

Your  sincere  friend, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  T.  F.  Bayard, 

Ambassador,  &c.,  &c., 

London. 

The  President’s  message  fell  like  a  crash  of  thunder 
upon  English  ears,  attuned  to  the  precision  of  diplomatic 
language,  and  made  familiar  by  the  history  of  “thin  red 
lines  of  heroes”  with  the  meaning  of  war.  The  Annual 
Register  summed  up  its  opinion  in  the  following  words: 
“The  President’s  extraordinary  proposal  was  believed  to 
have  been  made  in  view  of  the  approaching  Presidential 
election,  in  which  the  American-Irish  vote  would  be  an 
important  factor;  and  this  belief  was  strengthened  by  the 
eagerness  of  Republicans  and  Democrats  alike  to  asso¬ 
ciate  themselves  with  a  policy  which  affected  to  appeal 
to  a  sentiment  of  patriotism.  For  several  days  politicians 
in  the  United  States,  with  a  few  exceptions,  gave  them¬ 
selves  up  to  a  delirium  of  jingoism,  and  had  that  feeling 
continued  and  been  reciprocated  by  the  English  press  and 
the  English  people,  the  two  countries  might  really  have 
drifted  into  war.” 

Englishmen  of  whatever  party,  however,  restrained 
their  language,  and  hoped  for  an  adjustment.  In  a  speech 
at  Bristol,  two  days  after  the  publication  of  the  message, 
the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  as  spokesman  for  the 
British  Cabinet,  confidently  and  courteously  predicted 
that  when  the  “case  of  Great  Britain  .  .  .  was  laid  before 
the  people,  either  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  or  on  the 
other,  the  result  would  be  happy,  peaceful,  and  honorable 
to  both  parties.” 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 


197 

In  contrast  to  such  expressions  from  British  statesmen, 
the  manners  displayed  in  the  American  Congress  left 
much  to  be  desired,  needlessly  complicating  an  already 
delicate  situation  by  language  as  uncalled  for  as  it  was 
unparliamentary.  Outside,  in  the  street,  the  theater,  and 
the  market  place,  men  of  even  lesser  minds  caught  the  in¬ 
fection.  Jingoes  shrieked  for  war;  American  yellow 
journals  fanned  the  flame,  and  one  gallant  orator,  climb¬ 
ing  to  the  giddy  peak  of  exaggerated  patriotism,  toppled 
over  with  the  impious  prayer  that  he  might  live  to  “guide 
center  forward”  against  “my  ancient  enemy.” 

In  opposition  to  this  senseless  war  clamor,  the  New 
York  World  stood  out  conspicuously,  earning  the  right 
to  public  gratitude  by  cabling  to  certain  leading  men  of 
England  for  “a  word  of  peace”  with  which  to  stem  the 
tide  of  war. 

Mr.  Gladstone  replied:  “I  dare  not  interfere.  Com¬ 
mon  sense  only  required.  I  cannot  say  more  with  advan¬ 
tage.” 

The  Prince  of  Wales,  disregarding  the  convention 
which  normally  kept  his  name  out  of  international  dis¬ 
putes,  answered  that  both  he  and  the  Duke  of  York  “ear¬ 
nestly  trust,  and  cannot  but  believe,  that  the  present  crisis 
will  be  arranged  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  both  coun¬ 
tries,  and  will  be  succeeded  by  the  same  warm  feeling  of 
friendship  which  has  existed  between  them  for  so  many 
years.” 

John  Redmond,  on  the  other  hand,  sent  a  reply  cal¬ 
culated  to  fan  the  war  flame,  and  to  encourage  his  Irish 
kinsmen  across  the  sea:  “You  ask  for  an  expression  of 
opinion  from  me,  on  the  war  crisis,  as  a  representative  of 
British  thought.  In  this,  as  in  all  other  matters,  I  can 
speak  only  as  a  representative  of  Irish  opinion.  If  war 
results  from  the  reassertion  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  Irish 


198  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

national  sentiment  will  be  solid  on  the  side  of  America. 
With  Home  Rule  rejected,  Ireland  can  have  no  feeling  of 
friendliness  for  Great  Britain.” 

Congress  having  authorized  the  appointment  of  the 
commission  “to  determine  .  .  .  the  true  division  line  be¬ 
tween  the  Republic  of  Venezuela  and  British  Guiana,” 
Mr.  Cleveland  selected  the  following  distinguished  citi¬ 
zens  to  act  as  that  commission:  David  J.  Brewer,  Asso¬ 
ciate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
Richard  H.  Alvey,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Appeals 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  Andrew  D.  White,  ex-Presi- 
dent  of  Cornell  University  and  ex-Minister  to  Russia, 
Frederic  R.  Coudert,  one  of  the  counsel  for  the  United 
States  in  the  Behring  Sea  Arbitration,  and  Daniel  C.  Gil¬ 
man,  President  of  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

Their  appointment  apparently  had  the  effect  of  arous¬ 
ing  Great  Britain  to  the  need  of  a  less  dangerous  method 
of  settlement,  for  a  few  days  later  Ambassador  Bayard 
sent  the  following  cipher  telegram  to  Secretary  Olney, 
containing  the  plan  for  an  adjustment  by  which  neither 
Great  Britain  nor  Venezuela  would  be  called  upon  to 
abandon  long  established  settlements : 

Translation  of  cipher  telegram  sent  from  the  Embassy 
January  I  J,  I  8q6. 

Olney,  Secretary,  Washington. 

Lord  Playfair,  lately  Liberal  Cabinet  Minister,  came 
confidentially  yesterday  to  my  residence,  at  the  request  of 
Lord  Salisbury  and  Secretary  of  State  for  Colonies,  ex¬ 
pressing  earnest  desire  of  both  political  parties  here 
Venezuela  dispute  should  not  be  allowed  to  drift,  but  be 
promptly  settled  by  friendly  co-operation.  Suggests  as 
solution,  United  States  should  propose  conference  with 
United  States  of  European  countries  now  having  Colonies 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 


199 

in  American  Hemisphere — Great  Britain,  France,  Spain, 
Holland,  to  proclaim  the  Monroe  Doctrine — that  Euro¬ 
pean  Powers  having  interests  in  America,  should  not  seem 
to  extend  their  influence  in  that  Hemisphere.  If  the 
United  States  would  propose  this,  Great  Britain  would 
accept  Monroe  Doctrine,  and  it  would  become  interna¬ 
tional  law  between  countries  named.  Assuming  from  the 
President’s  Message,  that  any  settlement  of  boundary 
satisfactory  to  Venezuela,  would  be  unobjectionable  to 
United  States,  friendly  arbitration  is  suggested.  There 
being  no  Venezuelan  settlements  inside  Schomburgk  line, 
and  no  British  settlements  beyond  that  line;  therefore, 
irrespective  of  that  line,  mutual  condition  be  accepted, 
that  all  British  and  all  Venezuelan  settlements  be  ex¬ 
cluded  from  arbitration,  but  all  country  between  the  set¬ 
tlements  be  settled  by  a  Court  of  Arbitration  drawing  a 
boundary  line,  which  should  be  accepted  by  both  coun¬ 
tries.  Such  Court  of  Arbitration  to  consist  of  two  or 
three  Commissioners  from  England,  two  or  three  from 
Venezuela,  and  two  or  three  from  present  United  States 
Commission,  to  represent  knowledge  they  have  acquired. 
Under  this  principle,  districts  already  settled  by  Vene¬ 
zuela  or  British  Government  or  people,  would  not  be 
referred  to  by  arbitration,  and  there  would  be  no  diffi¬ 
culty  in  settling  line  by  friendly  arbitration.  I  will  write 
you  fully  next  Wednesday  mail.  But  desire  to  express 
positive  judgment,  that  proclaimed  recognition  of  Mon¬ 
roe  Doctrine  as  international  law  between  Powers  named 
would  make  it  binding,  not  only  on  them,  but  practically 
on  all  other  European  Powers,  and  would  end  all  con¬ 
templated  plans  of  future  conquest,  or  intermeddling 
alliances,  in  the  Western  Hemisphere,  by  European  Pow¬ 
ers,  under  any  pretext. 


Bayard. 


200 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


After  carefully  considering  these  suggestions,  Mr. 
Cleveland  and  Mr.  Olney  decided  against  calling  a  con¬ 
ference  of  European  powers  to  pass  judgment  on  the 
Monroe  Doctrine,  declaring  that  they  preferred  to  deal 
with  Great  Britain  alone.  To  this  Lord  Salisbury  readily 
consented. 

Meanwhile  the  American  Commissioners  continued 
the  work  for  which  the  President  had  appointed  them. 
Confident  of  the  British  sense  of  fair  play,  they  applied  to 
the  British  government  for  aid,  and  on  February  nth, 
the  Honorable  A.  J.  Balfour,  First  Lord  of  the  Treasury, 
and  Conservative  Leader  of  the  House  of  Commons,  re¬ 
ported  to  Parliament:  “We  have  promised  to  give  them 
all  the  information  we  are  able  to  give  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment.”  (Cheers.)  “No  false  pride  or  diplo¬ 
matic  punctilio  will  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  a 
settlement,  as  far  as  we  are  concerned.  Whatever  other 
conclusions  the  Commission  may  arrive  it,  it  will  most 
assuredly  reach  the  conclusion  that  no  desire  to  push  be¬ 
yond  the  due  limit  of  the  frontier  of  this  empire  has  ever 
been  the  animating  cause  which  moved  British  diplomacy 
in  this  long-drawn-out  controversy.”  Lord  Salisbury  fol¬ 
lowed  with  the  conciliatory  announcement:  “I  do  not 
think  that  the  invoking  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  was,  con¬ 
troversially,  quite  unnecessary,”  and  admitted  that  satis¬ 
factory  results  would  have  come  less  rapidly  had  not  the 
United  States  interfered.  “I  have  had  an  increasing  be¬ 
lief  during  the  past  few  weeks  that  we  shall  .  .  .  find 
some  satisfactory  settlement,  and  all  danger  of  a  rupture 
of  relations  between  the  two  nations  be  entirely  removed.” 
(Cheers.) 

By  the  middle  of  May  both  countries  were  intent  upon 
the  preparation  of  plans,  and  on  the  22nd  Lord  Salisbury 
sent  a  definite  proposal  for  the  substance  and  form  of  a 


THE  VENEZUELAN  AFFAIR 


201 


treaty  for  the  creation  of  the  joint  arbitration  committee. 
Seven  weeks  later  Mr.  Olney,  acting  in  accordance  with 
England’s  own  suggestion  to  that  effect,  as  expressed  in 
Bayard’s  dispatch  of  January  13th,  asked  whether  Great 
Britain  would  consent  to  unrestricted  arbitration  of  the 
whole  matter,  “provided  it  were  made  the  rule  of  the  arbi¬ 
tration  that  territory  which  had  been  in  the  exclusive, 
notorious,  and  actual  use  and  occupation  of  either  party 
for  sixty  years  should  be  held  to  belong  to  such  party.” 
This  suggestion,  differing  from  that  of  the  British  pro¬ 
posal  only  in  that  it  specified  the  period  of  sixty  years  as 
the  term  of  occupancy,  was  accepted  by  Lord  Salisbury. 

And  so,  in  his  fourth  annual  message,  Mr.  Cleveland 
was  able  to  announce :  “The  Venezuelan  boundary  ques¬ 
tion  has  ceased  to  be  a  matter  of  difference  between  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States,  their  respective  Govern¬ 
ments  having  agreed  upon  the  substantial  provisions  of  a 
treaty  between  Great  Britain  and  Venezuela  submitting 
the  whole  controversy  to  arbitration.  The  provisions  of 
the  treaty  are  so  eminently  just  and  fair  that  the  assent  of 
Venezuela  thereto  may  confidently  be  anticipated.” 

On  February  2,  1897,  one  month  before  President 
Cleveland’s  retirement,  such  a  treaty  between  Great  Brit¬ 
ain  and  Venezuela  was  signed  at  the  State  Department  in 
Washington.  It  was  a  strange,  if  not  a  unique  instance  of 
treaty  making,  American  State  Department  officials  hav¬ 
ing  taken  the  leading  part  in  the  negotiations,  although 
Great  Britain  and  Venezuela  were  the  signatories.  Ar¬ 
ticles  I  and  II  provided  for  an  arbitral  tribunal  to  consist 
of  five  jurists,  two  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  two  on  the 
part  of  Venezuela  (one  named  by  President  Cleveland 
and  one  by  the  Justices  of  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court),  and  the  fifth  to  be  selected  by  these  four.  Article 
III  empowered  the  tribunal  to  “determine  the  boundary 


202 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


line  between  the  Colony  of  British  Guiana  and  the  United 
States  of  Venezuela”;  while  Article  XIII  bound  the 
signatory  powers  “to  consider  the  result  of  the  proceed¬ 
ings  of  the  tribunal  of  arbitration  as  a  full,  perfect,  and 
final  settlement  of  all  the  questions  referred  to  the  arbi¬ 
trators.”  On  October  3,  1899,  the  award  was  presented  to 
the  British  Parliament,  and  the  controversy  was  at  an  end. 

That  an  adjustment,  honorable  alike  to  both  England 
and  America,  was  reached  is  to  the  credit  of  both ;  but  the 
biographers  of  Lord  Salisbury  may  safely  add  to  his  many 
achievements  the  fact  that  it  was  his  proposal,  transmitted 
through  Ambassador  Bayard’s  dispatch  of  January  13, 
1893,  which  enabled  American  abandon  her  independent 
study  of  the  Venezuela  boundary  and  opened  the  way  to  a 
peaceful  settlement. 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896 

“Our  fealty  to  party  rests  upon  something  higher  and 
better  than  an  instinct  to  blindly  follow  adventurous  leader - 
ership,  regardless  of  consequences  ” 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

SOME  time  before  the  assembling  of  the  National 
Conventions  of  1896,  Mr.  Euclid  Martin,  Chair¬ 
man  of  the  Nebraska  State  Central  Committee,  wrote  to 
President  Cleveland  from  Omaha:  “We  held  our  pri¬ 
maries  day  before  yesterday  in  this  city  for  the  purpose  of 
selecting  delegates  to  a  Democratic  State  Convention. 
The  issues  were  many.  Upon  one  side  was  Democracy 
and  the  administration.  Upon  the  other  was  Free  Silver, 
Populism,  Bryanism,  Strikism  and  a  very  large 
sprinkling  of  Church.  The  ambition  of  those  who  oppose 
the  administration  seemed  to  be  to  combine  all  of  the 
elements,  and  they  were  apparently  successful.  .  .  .  The 
Populists  who  wanted  a  Populist  Governor  were  willing 
to  play  upon  the  prejudices  of  the  Catholic  Church  be¬ 
cause  the  Republican  nominee  is  supposed  to  be  a  mem¬ 
ber  of  a  secret  organization  antagonistic  to  their  church, 
and  the  Honorable  William  Jennings  Bryan  was  in  it  for 
all  there  was  in  sight  for  himself.  .  .  .  Circumstances 
and  treachery  of  those  who  should  owe  you  allegiance, 
without  calling  names  further,  played  an  important  part 
in  the  result.  Add  to  this  a  craze  for  which  I  cannot  ac¬ 
count,  and  which  I  am  pleased  to  say  is  abating  to  some 
extent,  for  Mr.  Bryan,  and  the  results  are  before  you.” 

203 


204 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


At  the  same  time  William  Lynde  Stetson  warned  him 
that  the  New  York  Democracy  was  in  the  hands  of  its 
worst  enemies,  and  that  the  silver  men  “are  making  plans 
for  1896,  when  the  silver  party  shall  have  swallowed  the 
Populists,  as  the  Republicans  did  free  silver.”  Evidently, 
despite  Mr.  Cleveland’s  many  battles  in  its  behalf,  the 
gold  standard  was  not  yet  safe  and  could  be  permanently 
decided  only  by  a  national  referendum  in  a  presidential 
election.  To  educate  the  people  upon  this  question  be¬ 
fore  it  was  too  late,  therefore,  appeared  to  the  President 
the  imperative  need  of  the  hour,  and  he  began  to  urge 
upon  those  still  in  sympathy  with  his  views  the  necessity 
of  informing  the  public  upon  the  dangers  inherent  in  an 
unsound  currency.  With  this  in  mind  he  wrote  to  a  group 
of  Chicago  business  men: 

“If  the  sound  money  sentiment  abroad  in  the  land  is 
to  save  us  from  mischief  and  disaster,  it  must  be  crystal¬ 
lized  and  combined  and  made  immediately  active.  It  is 
dangerous  to  overlook  the  fact  that  a  vast  number  of  our 
people,  with  scant  opportunity  thus  far  to  examine  the 
question  in  all  its  aspects,  have  nevertheless  been  ingeni¬ 
ously  pressed  with  specious  suggestions,  which  in  this 
time  of  misfortune  and  depression  find  willing  listeners, 
prepared  to  give  credence  to  any  scheme  which  is  plaus¬ 
ibly  presented  as  a  remedy  for  their  unfortunate  con¬ 
dition. 

“What  is  now  needed  more  than  anything  else  is  a 
plain  and  simple  representation  of  the  argument  in  favor 
of  sound  money.  In  other  words,  it  is  time  for  the  Amer¬ 
ican  people  to  reason  together  as  members  of  a  great 
nation,  which  can  promise  them  a  continuance  of  protec¬ 
tion  and  safety  only  so  long  as  its  solvency  is  unsuspected, 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  205 

its  honor  unsullied,  and  the  soundness  of  its  money  un¬ 
questioned.  These  things  are  ill-exchanged  for  the  illu¬ 
sions  of  a  debased  currency  and  groundless  hope  of 
advantages  to  be  gained  by  a  disregard  of  our  financial 
credit  and  commercial  standing  among  the  nations  of  the 
world. 

“If  our  people  were  isolated  from  all  others  and  if 
the  question  of  our  currency  could  be  treated  without 
regard  to  our  relations  to  other  countries,  its  character 
would  be  a  matter  of  comparatively  little  importance. 
If  the  American  people  were  only  concerned  in  the 
maintenance  of  their  physical  life  among  themselves  they 
might  return  to  the  old  days  of  barter,  and  in  this  primi¬ 
tive  manner  acquire  from  each  other  the  materials  to 
supply  the  wants  of  their  existence.  But  if  American 
civilization  were  satisfied  with  this,  it  would  abjectly  fail 
in  its  high  and  noble  mission. 

“In  these  restless  days  the  farmer  is  tempted  by  the 
assurance  that  though  our  currency  may  be  debased, 
redundant,  and  uncertain,  such  a  situation  will  improve 
the  price  of  his  products.  Let  us  remind  him  that  he 
must  buy  as  well  as  sell;  that  his  dreams  of  plenty  are 
shaded  by  the  certainty  that  if  the  price  of  the  things  he 
has  to  sell  is  nominally  enhanced,  the  cost  of  the  things 
he  must  buy  will  not  remain  stationary.  .  .  . 

“It  ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  convince  the  wage 
earner  that  if  there  were  benefits  arising  from  a  degen¬ 
erated  currency  they  would  reach  him  least  of  all  and 
last  of  all.  In  an  unhealthy  stimulation  of  prices  an 
increased  cost  of  all  the  needs  of  his  home  must  long  be 
his  portion,  while  he  is  at  the  same  time  vexed  with  the 
vanishing  visions  of  increased  wages  and  an  easier  lot. 
The  pages  of  history  and  experience  are  full  of  this  lesson. 


206 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


“An  insidious  attempt  is  made  to  create  a  prejudice 
against  the  advocates  of  a  safe  and  sound  currency  by 
the  insinuation,  more  or  less  directly  made,  that  they 
belong  to  financial  and  business  classes,  and  are  therefore 
not  only  out  of  sympathy  with  the  common  people  of 
the  land,  but  for  selfish  and  wicked  purposes  are  willing 
to  sacrifice  the  interests  of  those  outside  their  circle. 

“I  believe  that  capital  and  wealth,  through  combina¬ 
tion  and  other  means,  sometimes  gain  an  undue  advan¬ 
tage,  and  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  maintenance  of  a 
sound  currency  may,  in  a  sense,  be  invested  with  a  greater 
or  less  importance  to  individuals  according  to  their  con¬ 
dition  and  circumstances.  It  is,  however,  only  a  differ¬ 
ence  in  degree,  since  it  is  utterly  impossible  that  anyone 
in  our  broad  land,  rich  or  poor,  whatever  may  be  his 
occupation,  and  whether  dwelling  in  a  center  of  finance 
and  commerce  or  in  a  remote  corner  of  our  domain,  can 
be  really  benefited  by  a  financial  scheme  not  alike  bene¬ 
ficial  to  all  our  people,  or  that  anyone  should  be  excluded 
from  a  common  and  universal  interest  in  the  safe  char¬ 
acter  and  stable  value  of  the  currency  of  the  country.  .  .  . 

“If  reckless  discontent  and  wild  experiment  should 
sweep  our  currency  from  its  safe  support,  the  most  de¬ 
fenseless  of  all  who  suffer  in  that  time  of  distress  and 
national  discredit  will  be  the  poor,  as  they  reckon  the 
loss  in  their  scanty  support,  and  the  laborer  or  working¬ 
man  as  he  sees  the  money  he  has  received  for  his  toil 
shrink  and  shrivel  in  his  hand  when  he  tenders  it  for  the 
necessaries  to  supply  the  humble  home.  Disguise  it  as 
we  may,  the  line  of  battle  is  drawn  between  the  forces  of 
safe  currency  and  those  of  silver  monometalism.” 

Two  weeks  later,  he  wrote  to  Governor  Stone  of 
Mississippi : 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896 


20  7 


Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  D.C. 

April  26,  18Q5. 

Honorable  J.  M.  Stone,  Governor 
My  dear  Sir: 

•  •  •  • 

If  we,  who  profess  fealty  to  the  Democratic  party, 
are  sincere  in  our  devotion  to  its  principles,  and  if  we 
are  right  in  believing  that  the  ascendency  of  those  prin¬ 
ciples  is  a  guarantee  of  personal  liberty,  universal  care 
for  the  rights  of  all,  non-sectional,  American  brotherhood 
and  manly  trust  in  American  citizenship  in  any  part  of 
our  land,  we  should  study  the  effects  upon  our  party  and 
consequently  upon  our  country  of  a  committal  of  the 
national  democracy  to  this  silver  aberration. 

If  there  are  Democrats  who  suppose  that  our  party 
can  succeed  upon  a  platform  embodying  such  a  doctrine, 
either  through  its  affirmative  strength  or  through  the 
perplexity  of  our  opponents  upon  the  same  proposition, 
or  if  there  are  Democrats  who  are  willing  to  turn  their 
backs  upon  their  party  associations  in  the  hope  that  free, 
unlimited  and  independent  coinage  of  silver  can  win  a 
victory  without  the  aid  of  either  party  organization,  they 
should  deceive  themselves  no  longer,  nor  longer  refuse 
to  look  in  the  face  the  results  that  will  follow  the  defeat, 
if  not  the  disintegration  of  the  Democratic  party  upon 
the  issue  which  tempts  them  from  their  allegiance.  If 
we  should  be  forced  away  from  our  traditional  doctrine 
of  sound  and  safe  money  our  old  antagonists  will  take  the 
field  on  the  platform  which  we  abandon,  and  neither  the 
votes  of  reckless  Democrats  nor  reckless  Republicans  will 
avail  to  stay  their  easy  march  to  power.  .  .  . 

Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 


208 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


From  that  time  until  the  assembling  of  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  Convention,  the  warfare  between  the  Free  Silver 
Democrats  and  the  followers  of  Grover  Cleveland  grew 
ever  fiercer,  each  faction  maneuvering  for  position  in 
the  coming  battle.  From  Bryanism  in  the  West  and 
South,  from  Gormanism  in  Maryland,  from  Vest  and 
Jones,  Bland  and  Voorhees,  from  New  York’s  Tammany- 
ized  Democracy,  despite  its  normal  sound  money  sym¬ 
pathies,  he  knew  that  he  and  his  sound  money  allies  could 
expect  only  vituperation  and  insult,  despite  the  fact  that 
the  end  of  his  political  career  was  close  at  hand.  Even 
had  they  not  differed  with  him  on  this  vital  subject,  they 
and  the  myriad  other  enemies,  bred  of  many  conflicts, 
were  eager  to  send  him  forth  at  the  end  of  his  public 
service  repudiated,  like  the  ancient  Hebrew  scapegoat 
upon  whose  fleecy  back  the  highpriest  laid  the  sins  of  the 
people. 

Meanwhile  the  voice  of  the  scandalmonger  was  again 
heard  in  the  land,  fashioning  ever  new  lies.  Indignant 
at  the  utter  baseness  of  their  attacks,  Don  M.  Dickinson 
wrote  to  the  President: 


666  Jefferson  Avenue. 

My  dear  Mr.  President: 

I  want  to  thank  you  not  only  for  your  note  of  the  19th 
inst.,  but  also  for  your  good  letter  of  the  1 8th  ulto.,  of 
which  I  expected  when  in  Washington,  to  have  had  an 
opportunity  to  speak  to  you  but  did  not. 

No  one  has  a  clearer  realization  of  the  situation  than 
I,  no  one  has  seen  what  you  have  passed  through  with  a 
keener  or  more  sensitive  appreciation  of  the  general 
demoralization  and  prevailing  madness,  and  of  your 
situation  in  the  midst  of  it.  History  will  set  down  your 
four  years  as  the  most  difficult  period — war  work 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  209 

excepted — in  the  life  of  this  government,  for  its  Chief 
Executive,  and  history  will  surely  set  down  against  the 
epoch,  that  the  Chief,  standing  alone,  was  great  in  his 
place,  equal  to  every  occasion,  a  patriot  always,  and  in 
and  of  himself  the  bulwark  that  turned  back  the  flood 
of  destruction. 

Surely  you  hold  up  the  only  beacon.  Outside  and 
around,  God  and  Truth  and  Right  and  Honor  seem  a 
dream.  Self-sacrifice,  bravery,  loyalty,  friendship,  seem 
to  have  left  you  alone  on  the  field.  Friendship!  it  sneaks 
or  whispers  its  professions  in  hiding.  Friendship!  in 
public  and  in  private,  it  listens  to  insult  with  lowered 
eyes,  or  covertly  smiles  or  winks  at  the  enemy  at  the  vilest 
ribaldry  at  the  expense  of  a  friend.  One  is  not  to  chal¬ 
lenge  any  vile  spawn  from  the  mouth  of  “rank”  (rank 
save  the  mark)  for  fear  of  getting  into  the  papers  and 
being  lied  about.  Who  stays  the  liars  and  the  mouthers 
•  of  billingsgate  from  saying  and  printing  broadcast  the 
foulest  screeds  under  the  sanction  of  “high”  official  sta¬ 
tion?  A  man  who  is  so  bound  that  he  cannot  move,  so 
held,  that  he  cannot  speak,  is  attacked  by  none  of  the 
human  race  except  the  digger  Indian.  But  he  who  stands 
by  and  sees  a  digger  Indian  do  it  is  meaner  than  the 
digger.  Democrats,  yes,  but  they  are  among  the  rank 
and  file.  I  am  glad  I  am  among  them.  If  I  had  been 
in  office  in  these  times  I  would  have  fought  myself  back 
to  the  ranks  in  some  highly  improper  way,  no  doubt. 

The  people,  not  as  Democrats  or  Republicans,  but  the 
American  people,  a  part  of  the  great  mind  of  the  Infinite, 
do  understand  and  do  appreciate,  and  will  accord,  not 
mere  justice,  but  reward  of  merit;  of  this  I  have  no  more 
doubt  than  I  have  the  sun  shines.  In  the  meantime  I 
can  only  emulate  Smollett  when  he  said : 


210 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


“Thy  spirit,  independence,  let  me  share, 

Lord  of  the  lion  heart  and  purpose  high. 

Thy  steps  I  follow  with  my  bosom  bare, 

Nor  heed  the  storm  that  howls  along  the  sky.” 

Faithfully  yours, 

Don  M.  Dickinson. 

Commodore  Benedict  wrote  in  the  same  strain,  and 
to  him  Mr.  Cleveland  replied:  “  .  .  .  Such  expressions 
are  my  only  comfort,  except  my  wife  and  babies,  in  these 
troublous,  perplexing  days.  The  next  week  will  be 
especially  harassing  and  anxious,  and  what  will  follow 
may  add  to  my  burdens.  Do  you  know,  my  dear  Com¬ 
modore,  that  I  have  never  been  so  sure  as  now  that  there 
is  a  high  and  unseen  Power  that  guides  and  sustains  the 
weak  efforts  of  man?  I  feel  it  all  the  time  and  some¬ 
how  I  have  come  to  expect  that  I  shall  find  the  path  of 
duty  and  right,  if  I  honestly  and  patriotically  go  on  my 
way.  I  should  be  afraid  to  allow  a  bad,  low  motive  to 
find  lodgment  in  my  mind,  for  I  know  I  should  then 
stumble  and  go  astray.” 

But  though  often  discouraged,  he  kept  up  the  fight  for 
popular  enlightenment.  On  May  20th,  he  wrote  to  a 
conference  of  New  York  Democratic  newspaper  editors: 

“There  is  a  temptation  now  vexing  the  people  in  dif¬ 
ferent  sections  of  the  country  which  assumes  the  disguise 
of  Democratic  party  principle,  inasmuch  as  it  presents  a 
scheme  which  is  claimed  to  be  a  remedy  for  agricultural 
depression  and  such  other  hardships  as  afflict  our  fellow 
citizens.  Thus,  because  we  are  the  friends  of  the  people 
and  profess  devotion  to  their  interests,  the  help  of  the 
members  of  our  party  is  invoked  in  support  of  a  plan  to 


21  I 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896 

revolutionize  the  monetary  condition  of  the  country  and 
embark  upon  an  experiment  which  is  discredited  by  all 
reason  and  experience,  which  invites  trouble  and  disaster 
in  every  avenue  of  labor  and  enterprise,  and  which  must 
prove  destructive  to  our  national  prestige  and  character. 

“When  a  campaign  is  actively  on  foot  to  force  the 
free,  unlimited  and  independent  coinage  of  silver  by  the 
government  at  a  ratio  which  will  add  to  our  circulation 
unrestrained  millions  of  so-called  dollars,  intrinsically 
worth  but  half  the  amount  they  purport  to  represent,  with 
no  provision  or  resource  to  make  good  this  deficiency  in 
value,  and  when  it  is  claimed  that  such  a  proposition  has 
any  relation  to  the  principles  of  Democracy,  it  is  time 
for  all  who  may  in  the  least  degree  influence  Democratic 
thought  to  realize  their  responsibility. 

“Our  party  is  the  party  of  the  people,  not  because  it 
is  wafted  hither  and  thither  by  every  sudden  wave  of 
popular  excitement  and  misconception,  but  because  while 
it  tests  every  proposition  by  the  doctrines  which  underlie 
its  organization,  it  insists  that  all  interests  should  be  de¬ 
fended  in  the  administration  of  the  government  without 
especial  favor  or  discrimination. 

“Our  party  is  the  party  of  the  people  because  in  its 
care  for  the  welfare  of  all  our  countrymen  it  resists  dan¬ 
gerous  schemes  born  of  discontent,  advocated  by  appeals 
to  sectional  or  class  prejudices,  and  reinforced  by  the 
insidious  aid  of  private  selfishness  and  cupidity. 

“Above  all  our  party  is  the  party  of  the  people  when 
it  recognizes  the  fact  that  sound  and  absolutely  safe 
money  is  the  life  blood  of  our  country’s  strength  and 
prosperity,  and  when  it  teaches  that  none  of  our  fellow 
citizens,  rich  or  poor,  great  or  humble,  can  escape  the 
consequences  of  a  degeneration  of  our  currency.” 


212 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


In  such  letters,  sent  to  leading  Democrats  throughout 
the  nation,  President  Cleveland  sounded  the  call,  before 
the  measure  of  his  second  term  was  more  than  half 
accomplished.  And  it  was  this  educational  feature  which 
later  made  the  campaign  of  1896  unique  in  our  history. 
His  alarm  increased  as  the  months  passed,  and  his  lan¬ 
guage  strengthened  with  his  sense  of  danger.  In  July 
he  wrote  to  Dickinson:  “The  devils  that  were  cast  out 
of  the  swine  centuries  ago  have,  I  am  afraid,  obtained 
possession  of  some  so-called  Democratic  leaders.  Good 
times  and  justification  of  Democratic  policy,  with  gifts 
in  their  hands,  are  driven  out  from  the  Democratic  camp. 
If  there  was  a  penitentiary  devoted  to  the  incarceration 
of  those  who  commit  crimes  against  the  Democratic 
party,  how  easily  it  could  be  filled  just  at  this  time.” 

While  such  views  more  and  more  infuriated  the  silver 
men,  they  created  among  sound  money  men  of  whatever 
party  the  feeling  that  Grover  Cleveland  was  the  safest 
man  in  public  life.  “The  amount  of  third  term  feeling 
that  exists  in  New  York  is  amazing,”  wrote  William 
Elroy  Curtis.  “President  Cleveland  seems  to  be  the  only 
man  in  the  Democratic  party,  and  although  there  is 
general  dissatisfaction  with  the  financial  and  foreign 
policies  of  the  administration,  the  same  people  who  con¬ 
demn  them  predict  that  he  will  be  the  next  candidate  for 
president. 

“I  sat  the  other  day  in  a  business  house  which  is  very 
prominent  in  the  South  American  trade,  and  where  all 
the  five  partners  are  Democrats,  some  of  whom  have 
been  very  active  in  politics.  They  condemned  the  admin¬ 
istration  for  revoking  the  reciprocity  treaties,  for  pre¬ 
venting  the  annexation  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  for  per¬ 
mitting  Great  Britain  to  blackmail  Nicaragua,  for  not 
interfering  in  the  Cuban  revolution,  for  the  Venezuela 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1 896  213 

boundary  dispute,  for  enforcing  the  payment  of  the 
Mora  claim,  for  permitting  Chile  to  get  the  better  of  us 
in  the  recent  claims  commission,  and  for  almost  every¬ 
thing  else  that  has  been  done  or  omitted  in  our  foreign 
relations,  and  declared  the  Cleveland  administration  had 
done  more  to  injure  our  foreign  trade  than  years  of  care¬ 
ful  cultivation  could  correct  Then  when  we  began  to 
talk  of  the  future  every  one  of  them  declared  his  belief 
that  the  President  would  be  nominated  for  a  third  term 
and  would  be  the  strongest  candidate  the  Democrats 
could  offer  to  the  country. 

“Nor  is  this  an  exceptional  instance.  You  hear  the 
same  talk  everywhere — at  the  hotels,  at  the  clubs  and 
restaurants,  in  the  banks  and  brokers’  offices  and  wherever 
men  who  talk  politics  gather  together.” 

The  more  the  third  term  idea  gained  in  strength,  the 
more  violent  were  the  denunciations  heaped  upon  the 
President  by  political  opponents.  “I  have  never  felt  so 
keenly  as  now  the  unjust  accusations  of  political  antago¬ 
nists,”  he  wrote  to  Dickinson,  on  February  18,  1896, 
“and  the  hatred  and  vindictiveness  of  ingrates  and  traitors 
who  wear  the  stolen  livery  of  Democracy.  .  .  .  You 
know  my  supreme  faith  in  the  American  people.  While 
I  believe  them  to  be  just  now  deluded,  mistaken  and 
wickedly  duped,  they  will  certainly  return  to  sound  prin¬ 
ciples  and  patriotic  aspirations;  and  what  I  may  suffer 
in  the  period  of  aberration  is  not  important.  I  have 
studied  laboriously  to  discover  or  imagine  what,  if  any¬ 
thing,  is  in  the  minds  of  those  who  assume  the  role  of 
Democratic  leaders.  Hatred  of  the  administration  seems 
to  be  the  only  sentiment  that  pervades  their  counsels. 

“It  is  absolutely  certain  that  this  issue  [free  silver] 
will  not  wear  during  the  campaign  nor  lead  to  success. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


214 

It  will  be  the  irony  of  fate,  if  in  the  hour  of  defeat,  thus 
invited,  the  air  is  filled  with  democratic  clamor  accusing 
me  of  destroying  party  prospects.  And  yet  this  is  pre¬ 
cisely  what  I  expect. 

“I  have  a  consciousness  within  me,  however,  and  an 
experience  behind  me  that  will  permit  me  to  bear  even 
this  injustice  with  resignation;  and  I  will  patiently  wait 
for  the  final  verdict  of  my  countrymen,  which  will 
certainly  in  due  time  be  returned. 

“I  cannot  be  mistaken  in  believing  that  if  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  party  is  to  survive,  its  banner  upon  which  shall  be 
inscribed  its  true  principles  and  safe  policies,  must  be 
held  aloft  by  sturdy  hands  which  even  though  few,  will 
in  the  gloom  of  defeat,  save  it  from  the  disgraceful  clutch 
of  time-serving  camp  followers  and  knavish  traitors.” 

A  few  weeks  later,  he  wrote  again  to  Dickinson : 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington, 
March  IQ,  i8q6. 

My  dear  Mr.  Dickinson 

I  was  made  very  happy  yesterday  by  the  receipt  of 
the  painting  you  sent  me  of  the  duck  hunter.  It  is  a  very 
relieving  picture  to  look  at  and  every  time  my  eye  falls 
on  it  in  these  dreadfully  dark  and  trying  days,  I  say  to 
myself,  “I  wish  I  was  in  that  old  fellow’s  place.” 

Two  things  I  am  longing  for — the  adjournment  of 
Congress  and  the  4th  day  of  March,  1897. 

I  honestly  believe  the  present  Congress  is  a  menace 
to  the  good  of  the  country  if  not  to  its  actual  safety.  If 
the  Democratic  party  was  in  proper  condition  and  in¬ 
clined  to  half  behave  itself  the  wildness  and  recklessness 
of  this  Republican  Congress  would  turn  many  thousands 
of  recruits  to  our  party;  but  every  day  develops  more  and 
more  plainly  the  seeming  desperation  and  wickedness 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  215 

of  those  in  the  Senate  and  House  for  whose  conduct  our 
party  will  I  suppose  be  held  responsible. 

I  am  positive  there  is  but  one  chance  for  future 
Democratic  successes — a  perfectly  and  unequivocal  sound 
money  platform  at  Chicago.  If  this  means  the  loss  of 
votes,  present  defeat,  or  even  a  party  division,  the  seed 
will  be  saved  from  which  I  believe  Democratic  successes 
will  grow  in  the  future. 

But  I  must  not  be  morbid  on  this  subject — all  the 
same  it  is  outrageous  that  Democracy  should  be  betrayed 
“in  its  hour  of  might.” 

Hoping  that  your  short  rest  has  done  you  good,  I  am 

Yours  very  sincerely 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Don  M.  Dickinson, 

Detroit,  Mich. 

Although  determined  that  under  no  circumstances 
would  he  consider  the  idea  of  a  third  term,  his  letters 
of  this  period  show  a  more  eager  interest  in  the  coming 
presidential  campaign  than  he  had  shown  regarding  the 
three  contests  in  which  he  himself  had  figured  as  a  candi¬ 
date.  Visions  of  disaster  to  his  party,  if  seduced  to  error 
by  the  growing  free  silver  wing,  haunted  him,  and  he 
eagerly  watched  the  progress  of  state  elections,  those 
gauges  which  indicate  the  direction  of  the  winds  of 
politics.  To  Dickinson  he  wrote  on  May  1st: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington, 
May  I,  l8g6. 

My  dear  Mr.  Dickinson 

I  steal  a  moment  from  working  hours  to  write  this, 
because  I  feel  that  I  cannot  longer  refrain  from  express¬ 
ing  my  thanks  as  a  citizens  and  a  democrat,  to  you  and. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


2l6 

those  who  worked  with  you,  for  the  splendid  achieve¬ 
ment  ...  in  Michigan. 

Whatever  else  may  be  done  before  July  7th  to  save 
the  country  and  the  party,  the  result  of  the  Michigan 
Democratic  State  Convention  will  be,  must  be,  looked 
upon  as  the  most  important  incident  of  all  that  will  crowd 
the  intervening  time.  I  know  you  do  not  want  the  least 
invidious  mention,  when  so  many  have  done  so  well,  but 
I  must  tell  you  how  much  prouder  than  ever  I  am  of 
your  friendship,  and  how  glad  I  am  to  know  more  of 
the  splendid  material  in  Stevenson’s  construction.  No 
two  men  in  the  country  have  better  cause  for  self- 
congratulation. 

New  York  hangs  fire  and  delays  speaking,  though  she 
can  say  but  one  thing,  and  though  she  now  owes  that 
speech  to  the  party  and  the  cause.  I  am  much  humili¬ 
ated  and  ashamed  that  she  should  be  thus  kept  in  the 
background  by  the  same  dickering,  petty,  ignoble, 
criminal  figuring  that  will  confront  us  “in  our  hour  of 
might”  at  Chicago.  The  treacherous  cry  of  harmony 
and  the  false  pretense  of  compromise  will  still  I  fear  be 
in  the  path  of  those  who  may  fight  valiantly  and  well  as 
you  have  done. 

Thanking  and  trusting  you,  and  with  sincere  remem¬ 
brances  to  Mr.  Stevenson,  I  am 

Yours  very  sincerely 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Don  M.  Dickinson. 

President  Cleveland  was  working  for  no  mere  tem¬ 
porary  party  victory.  He  already  distinguished  “the  true 
Democracy”  from  the  body  of  death  which  was  slowly 
donning  its  livery.  “We  can  survive  as  a  party  without 
immediate  success  at  the  polls,”  he  wrote  to  Dickinson, 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  21 J 

“but  I  do  not  think  we  can  survive  if  we  have  fastened 
upon  us  as  an  authoritative  declaration  of  party  policy, 
the  free  coinage  of  silver.” 

As  the  date  of  the  Democratic  National  Convention 
drew  near,  however,  it  became  increasingly  difficult  for 
him  to  believe  that  the  Democrats  would  refuse  the  silver 
bait.  The  party  was  unmistakably  being  prepared  for 
the  transformation  which  would  make  of  it  the  Free 
Silver  party,  and  Mr.  Cleveland  was  compelled  to  face, 
however  reluctantly,  the  question,  “What  then?”  He 
knew  that  he  could  not  serve  a  free  silver  party,  even  as 
a  private  in  the  ranks.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Republi¬ 
can  party  offered  no  allurements,  even  had  he  been  able 
to  forget  the  McKinley  tariff  which  had  stamped  it  for¬ 
ever,  in  his  mind,  as  the  party  of  the  interests.  More¬ 
over,  McKinley,  though  now  the  leading  candidate  for 
the  Republican  nomination,  had  as  yet  recanted  none  of 
his  silver  views,  and  the  chance  seemed  not  too  remote 
that  the  Republicans  would  sidestep  the  issue. 

Under  these  circumstances  he  could  but  cling  to  the 
hope  that  the  Democratic  National  Convention  might 
after  all  be  controlled  by  sound  money  men.  “I  am  pray¬ 
ing  now,”  he  wrote  to  L.  Clarke  Davis,  on  May  14th, 
“that  the  prevalent  infection  may  pass  away,  leaving  life 
and  hope  of  complete  recovery.  In  the  meantime,  the 
brood  of  liars  and  fools  must  have  their  carnival.” 
Should  the  Democratic  Convention  declare  for  free 
silver,  the  only  chance  for  the  gold  standard  lay  in  the 
adoption  by  the  Republicans  of  an  uncompromisingly 
sound  money  platform,  for  he  still  believed  that  there 
were  gold  money  men  enough  to  elect  a  President  if  only 
they  could  have  a  party  through  which  to  express  their 
views. 

During  the  early  months  of  the  year,  President  Cleve- 


2l8 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


land  and  Colonel  Lamont  had  arranged  to  have  the  body 
of  the  late  Secretary  of  State  removed  to  a  place  of  honor 
in  Arlington  Cemetery,  and  in  May,  Mrs.  Gresham  and 
her  son,  Otto  Gresham,  accompanied  the  remains  to  the 
new  resting  place.  During  his  few  days’  visit  to  Wash¬ 
ington  Mr.  Otto  Gresham  had  frequent  talks  with  the 
President  on  the  currency  question.  “During  these  con¬ 
versations,”  writes  Mr.  Gresham,  “the  President  confi¬ 
dently  declared  that  ‘if  the  Democrats  should  adopt  a 
free  silver  platform,  that  is  silver  at  16  to  i,  and  the 
Republicans  straddle,  silver  would  win,  because  no  sound 
money  Democrat  would  vote  for  a  silver  Republican 
for  President,  and  the  silver  Republicans  will  vote  for 
1 6  to  i.’  ” 

Mr.  Gresham  left  Washington  convinced  of  the 
soundness  of  this  prophecy,  and  convinced  also  that  the 
President,  too,  would  bolt  the  Democratic  ticket  if  the 
coming  convention  should  father  the  free  silver  heresy. 
On  his  way  back  to  Chicago,  he  stopped  at  Indianapolis 
to  give  the  Indiana  Democratic  leaders  the  benefit  fcof 
Mr.  Cleveland’s  views,  and  sought  out  as  well  his  father’s 
old  friends  in  the  Republican  camp. 

According  to  his  own  account  of  his  interviews,  his 
most  fruitful  conversation  was  with  Charles  W.  Fair¬ 
banks,  who  showed  him  the  keynote  speech  which  he  had 
prepared  for  the  coming  Republican  National  Conven¬ 
tion,  of  which  Mr.  McKinley  had  asked  him  to  be  tem¬ 
porary  chairman.  The  speech  was  at  best  a  straddle, 
Mr.  Gresham  writes:  “He  quoted  from  McKinley’s 
speeches  in  favor  of  the  Bland-Allison  act,  and  in  sup¬ 
port  of  silver  propaganda  looking  to  some  measure  to 
take  the  place  of  the  Bland-Allison  act,  as  it  was  expiring 
by  limitation.  After  he  had  finished  reading  it,  he  asked 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  219 

me  what  I  thought  of  it.  I  told  him  it  would  not  do 
at  all.” 

For  a  time  they  argued  the  situation,  Fairbanks,  a 
sound  money  man  at  heart,  but  planning  a  keynote  speech 
controlled  by  considerations  of  political  expediency,  and 
Otto  Gresham,  a  sound  money  enthusiast,  filled  with  faith 
in  Cleveland’s  prediction  that  a  straddle  on  the  part  of 
the  Republicans  would  mean  a  free  silver  President. 
“Mr.  Cleveland,”  finally  declared  Gresham,  “is  going 
to  bolt  to  your  side,  provided  you  give  him  something  to 
bolt  to.  The  silver  Republicans  will  leave  you  and  go 
to  the  silver  Democrats  if  you  straddle;  the  only  chance 
for  you  to  win  is  to  get  on  a  sound  money  platform.” 
After  a  few  moments’  hesitation,  Mr.  Fairbanks  replied: 
“I  see  it.  You  are  right.  I  will  tear  this  speech  up,  and 
write  another  one.” 

This  second  speech,  duly  delivered  at  the  opening  of 
the  St.  Louis  Convention,  gave  notice  that  the  Republican 
party,  so  long  complacent  toward  the  free  silver  heresy, 
was  now  ready  to  stand  four-square  for  the  gold  standard. 
“We  protest,”  it  declared,  “against  lowering  our  standard 
of  commercial  honor.  We  stand  against  the  Democratic 
attempt  to  degrade  our  currency  to  the  low  level  of 
Mexico,  China,  India  and  Japan.  The  present  high 
standard  of  our  currency,  our  honor  and  our  flag  will 
be  protected  and  preserved  by  the  Republican  party.” 

This  change,  in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Gresham,  would 
not  have  been  made  had  Mr.  Fairbanks  not  “learned  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  opinion.  .  .  .  He  had  unbounded  faith  in 
Mr.  Cleveland’s  (judgment  and  patriotism.  ...  I  am 
just  as  sure  as  I  am  of  anything  that  I  did  not  personally 
participate  in,  that  Fairbanks  sent  McKinley  Grover 
Cleveland’s  views  as  I  brought  them.”  “I  have  no 
doubt,”  he  later  declared,  “that  it  was  Grover  Cleve- 


220 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


land’s  views,  financial  and  political,  that  switched  Wil¬ 
liam  McKinley  from  .  .  .  soft  money  to  hard  money 
in  1896.” 

While  not  too  nearly  akin  to  McKinley’s  own  ideas, 
as  interpreted  by  his  past  actions,  these  views  were 
identical  with  those  of  Mark  Hanna,  McKinley’s  polit¬ 
ical  manager.  Hanna,  a  “gold  bug”  from  the  beginning, 
felt  certain  that  McKinley  could  be  nominated,  but 
wished  to  be  equally  sure  that  if  nominated  he  would 
stand  upon  an  out-and-out  gold  platform.  He  therefore 
allowed  the  Platform  Committee  to  debate  the  silver 
question  for  two  days,  and  waited  to  be  approached  by 
the  gold  men,  whom  he  had  purposely  left  in  doubt  as 
to  his  position.  At  last  they  came,  with  an  ultimatum. 
He  must  within  one  hour  side  with  the  gold  wing  or  they 
would  fight  McKinley  on  the  floor  of  the  convention. 
Within  the  limits  of  the  hour,  the  gold  plank  which 
Hanna  had  brought  ready  prepared  with  him  to  the  con¬ 
vention  was  in  the  hands  of  the  triumphant  gold  men, 
and  William  McKinley  was  secure  of  a  place  in  history 
as  the  leader  of  the  sound  money  crusade  of  1896.  ,/ 

Upon  the  adoption  of  the  platform,  as  sound  in  its 
financial  plank  as  either  Cleveland  or  Hanna  could  wish, 
the  silver  Republicans  fulfilled  to  the  letter  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land’s  prediction.  Headed  by  Senators  Teller,  of  Colo¬ 
rado,  DuBois,  of  Iowa,  Pettigrew,  of  South  Dakota,  and 
Cannon,  of  Utah,  they  marched,  thirty-four  strong,  out 
of  the  Republican  house  of  gold  to  find  honored  places  in 
William  Jennings  Bryan’s  Democratic  house  of  silver. 

Such  is  the  strange  story  of  the  influence  exerted  by 
a  Democratic  President  upon  a  Republican  campaign 
program,  as  told  by  one  who  saw  matters  from  the  inside. 
It  is  confessedly  only  a  section  of  the  picture,  for,  as 
Mr.  Gresham’s  memorandum  fully  recognizes,  many 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  221 

other  leaders  had  their  parts  in  the  work  of  writing  sound 
money  principles  into  the  Republican  platform  of  1896. 
Thomas  C.  Platt,  for  example,  has  modestly  confessed: 
“In  1896  I  scored  what  I  regard  as  the  greatest  achieve¬ 
ment  of  my  political  career.  This  was  the  insertion  of 
the  gold  plank  in  the  St.  Louis  platform.”  But  Thomas 
C.  Platt  has  confessed  other  things,  and  still  others  have 
been  confessed  for  him,  and  therefore  the  world  will  not 
accept  his  voice  as  the  voice  of  Clio,  the  muse  of  history, 
even  though  it  accepts  the  fact  that  he  played  an  im¬ 
portant  role  in  this  drama,  in  company  with  a  host  of 
others:  Herrick,  Payne,  Morrison  and  Lodge,  Reed, 
Allison,  Morton,  Depew,  and  many  more.  Mr.  Kohlsaat 
and  Senator  Foraker  has  each  blushingly  confessed  him¬ 
self  the  deus  ex  machina,  and  their  part  none  can  ques¬ 
tion.  But  the  truth,  while  including  them  all,  shows  also 
the  dominant  figure  of  Grover  Cleveland,  the  man  who 
played  in  both  companies  in  the  interest  of  neither,  but 
that  the  people’s  honor  should  be  above  reproach. 

But  though  thus  able  to  influence  the  Republican 
National  Convention,  Mr.  Cleveland  knew  how  small 
was  his  chance  of  changing  the  sentiments  of  the  National 
Convention  of  his  own  party.  Four  weeks  before  the 
assembling  of  the  latter  he  wrote  to  Dickinson : 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

June  10,  1896 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Dickinson 

I  so  fully  approve  of  your  suggestions  concerning 
delegations  of  sound  and  solid  men  to  attend  the  conven- 
tion  as  non-delegates  with  a  view  of  exerting  a  whole¬ 
some  influence  on  delegate  sentiment,  that  I  immediately 
began  to  agitate  the  subject  in  quarters  where  I  thought 
it  would  effect  the  best  results.  My  ideas  seemed  to  meet 


222 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


with  approval  and  I  had  some  assurances  of  co-operation, 
though  I  am  bound  to  say  to  you  that  they  were  even  then 
accompanied  with  that  sort  of  reserved  enthusiasm  which 
seems  to  have  for  the  most  part  characterized  all  move¬ 
ments  in  favor  of  sound  financial  policy.  Since  the  re¬ 
ceipt  of  your  letter,  however,  events  have  occurred  so 
discouraging  to  the  cause  of  sound  finance,  that  I  am 
afraid  the  efforts  promised  will  not  be  made.  The  fact 
is,  people  whom  I  see  here  who  believe  with  us,  appear 
to  be  thoroughly  impressed  with  the  idea  that  nothing 
can  be  done  to  stem  the  tide  of  silverism  at  Chicago. 

I  believe  I  am  by  nature  an  undismayed  and  per¬ 
sistent  fighter  and  I  do  not  believe  in  giving  an  inch  until 
we  are  obliged  to;  and  yet  it  is  hard  to  call  on  friends 
to  maintain  a  struggle  which  seems  so  hopeless. 

It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  there  should  be  any 
relaxation  in  the  effort  to  prevent  our  party  from  entering 
upon  a  course  which  means  its  retirement  for  many  years 
to  come.  If  we  cannot  succeed  in  checking  the  desperate 
rush,  perhaps  a  demonstration  can  be  made  which  will 
indicate  that  a  large  section  of  the  party  is  not  infected. 
I  don’t  know  how  this  can  best  be  done,  but  I  very  much 
desire  that  we  shall  not  all  have  to  hang  our  heads  when 
our  party  is  accused  of  free  silverism. 

Of  course  I  have  never  seen  anything  like  this  craze 
before,  but  my  faith  in  the  American  people  is  so  great 
that  I  cannot  believe  they  will  cast  themselves  over  the 
precipice. 

But  there  is  our  old  party  with  all  its  glorious  tra¬ 
ditions  and  all  its  achievements  in  the  way  of  safe  and 
conservative  policies,  and  its  exhibitions  of  indestructi¬ 
bility.  Is  it  to  founder  on  the  rocks?  Will  not  sanity 
return  before  we  reach  the  final  plunge?  While  I  am 
not  completely  discouraged,  I  confess  the  way  looks  dark. 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  223 

The  most  astounding  feature  of  all  this  matter  is  the 
lethargy  of  our  friends  and  the  impossibility  of  stirring 
them  to  action.  Michigan  seems  to  be  the  only  state 
whose  work  was  needed  and  was  forthcoming. 

Events  sometimes  crowd  closely  upon  each  other  and 
much  may  be  developed  within  even  four  weeks. 

Yours  sincerely 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Don  M.  Dickinson. 

When  the  Democratic  National  Convention  assem¬ 
bled  at  Chicago  on  July  7th,  it  was  at  once  apparent  that 
the  free  silver  men  would  control.  Senator  Daniel  was 
chosen  temporary  chairman  of  the  convention,  to  the 
discomfort  of  David  B.  Hill,  who  was  now  prominent  as 
leader  of  the  gold  Democrats.  Another  ardent  silver 
leader,  Senator  White  of  California,  was  made  perma¬ 
nent  chairman;  and  pending  the  report  of  a  platform, 
the  convention  listened  entranced  to  eloquent  proponents 
of  a  currency  reform  guaranteed  to  save  the  nation. 

The  adoption  of  a  platform  demanding  the  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  both  silver  and  gold  at  the  ratio 
of  16  to  1  without  waiting  for  the  aid  or  consent  of  any 
other  nation;  the  rejection  by  a  vote  of  564  to  357  of  a 
resolution  commendatory  of  the  Cleveland  administra¬ 
tion,  which  David  B.  Hill  introduced  with  the  gleeful 
consciousness  that  it  would  be  overwhelmingly  defeated, 
and  the  nomination  of  William  Jennings  Bryan  on  the 
fifth  ballot  made  Mr.  Cleveland’s  dethronement  com¬ 
plete.  “Never  before  in  American  history,”  wrote  a  cor¬ 
respondent  who  witnessed  his  eclipse,  “has  a  President 
sunk  so  low  as  Cleveland  has  fallen.  Never  has  a  Presi¬ 
dent  been  so  held  in  contempt  by  the  people.  No  one 
is  interested  enough  to  care  what  he  does  or  says.  .  .  . 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


224 

Cleveland  has  been  driven  out  of  his  party,  and  it  was 
Hill  who  closed  the  door  and  double  locked  it  with  his 
resolution  as  Cleveland  departed.” 

It  was  here  that  Bryan  made  his  “Crown  of  Thorns 
and  Cross  of  Gold”  speech.  Up  to  that  time,  Bland  was 
the  leading  Democratic  candidate  for  President,  and  had 
a  majority  of  the  delegates,  but  from  the  moment  of  the 
“Cross  and  Crown”  speech,  state  after  state  planted  its 
banner  beside  the  Nebraska  standard,  until  two  thirds  of 
the  convention  were  so  represented. 

It  was  felt  by  many  of  the  onlookers  that  the  sound 
money  men  would  bolt,  but  this  conviction  was  not  justi¬ 
fied.  Tammany  Hall  was  apparently  ready  to  depart, 
but  the  counsels  of  Mr.  Whitney,  Governor  Russell  of 
Massachusetts,  and  other  sound  money  leaders  prevailed, 
and  Tammany  sat  in  silent  protest  as  the  platform  was 
adopted  and  Bryan  was  nominated.  When  the  nomina¬ 
tion  was  announced,  Senator  Vest  remarked  in  a  stage 
whisper:  “Now  we  are  even  with  old  Cleveland.” 

In  accepting  the  nomination,  Mr.  Bryan  amplified 
the  protest,  already  made  in  the  platform,  against  federal 
interference  in  local  affairs.  Taking  Article  IV,  Section 
4,  of  the  Federal  Constitution  as  his  warrant,  he  pledged 
himself  against  such  interference  as  that  to  which  Presi¬ 
dent  Cleveland  had  resorted  when  he  sent  troops  to 
Chicago  in  1894. 

Nothing  could  have  more  graphically  illustrated  the 
determination  of  the  Bryanized  Democracy  to  repudiate 
the  former  chief,  for  it  was  the  Honorable  John  W. 
Daniel,  of  Virginia,  president  of  the  convention  which 
nominated  Bryan,  who  had  proposed  the  resolution 
unanimously  passed  by  the  United  States  Senate  on  July 
12,  1894,  that:  “The  Senate  indorses  the  prompt  and 
vigorous  measures  adopted  by  the  President  of  the  United 


225 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896 

States  and  the  members  of  his  administration  to  repulse 
and  repress,  by  military  force,  the  interference  of  lawless 
men  with  the  due  process  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States, 
and  with  the  transportation  of  the  mails  of  the  United 
States,  and  with  commerce  among  the  States.” 

In  commenting  upon  the  subject,  the  eminent  Demo¬ 
cratic  leader,  Judson  Harmon,  wrote:  It  is  “a  far  more 
serious  matter  than  the  money  question  or  any  of  the  other 
questions  before  the  people,  grave  as  they  all  are.  If  a 
candidate  for  President  may  properly  pledge  himself  in 
advance,  as  Mr.  Bryan  has  done,  to  do  nothing  to  protect 
the  property,  maintain  the  authority,  and  enforce  the  laws 
of  the  United  States,  unless  and  until  the  officers  of  an¬ 
other  government  request  or  consent,  then  we  really  have 
no  Federal  Government,  for  a  government  which  is  not  en¬ 
tirely  free  to  use  force  to  protect  and  maintain  itself  in  the 
discharge  of  its  proper  functions  is  no  government  at  all.” 

The  results  of  the  convention  gave  President  Cleve¬ 
land  a  new  phrase.  Instead  of  the  “free  silver  heresy,” 
his  fight  was  henceforth  against  “Bryanism.”  An  abstract 
idea  which  he  abhorred  had  become  incarnate.  His  in¬ 
dignation  at  this  conquest  of  an  organization,  this  appro¬ 
priation  of  an  honored  name,  was  boundless.  While  Hill 
was  content  to  follow  the  new  banner,  declaring,  “I  am 
still  a  Democrat,  very  still,”  Cleveland,  acting  upon  his 
own  maxim,  “a  just  cause  is  never  lost,”  prepared  to  bolt, 
advising  his  friends,  however,  to  hold  their  peace  until 
a  definite  plan  of  action  could  be  agreed  upon. 

“I  really  do  not  see  what  I  can  properly  do  or  say,” 
he  wrote  to  Colonel  Lamont,  a  few  days  later.  “Those 
who  controlled  the  convention  displayed  their  hatred  of 
me  and  wholly  repudiated  me.  Those  who  at  the  con¬ 
vention  differed  from  them,  seem  to  have  thought  it  wise 
to  ignore  me  in  all  consultation  fearing  probably  that 


226 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


any  connection  with  me  would  imperil  success.  I  do 
not  say  they  were  not  right.  I  only  say  that  events  have 
pushed  me  so  much  aside  that  I  do  not  see  how  I  can 
be  useful  in  harmonizing  or  smoothing  matters. 

“I  have  an  idea,  quite  fixed  and  definite,  that  for  the 
present  at  least  we  should  none  of  us  say  anything.  I  have 
heard  from  Herbert  to-day.  He  says  he  has  declared  he 
will  not  support  the  ticket.  I  am  sorry  he  has  done  so. 
We  have  a  right  to  be  quiet — indeed  I  feel  that  I  have 
been  invited  to  that  course.  I  am  not  fretting  except 
about  the  future  of  the  country  and  party,  and  the  danger 
that  the  latter  is  to  be  compromised  as  an  organization. 

“I  suppose  it  has  occurred  to  you  that  since  the  Chi¬ 
cago  Convention  there  cannot  be  a  fool  stupid  enough 
or  malicious  enough  to  attribute  to  the  present  adminis¬ 
tration  any  calamity  that  may  befall  the  organization  of 
the  Democratic  party.  While  I  would  be  willing  to 
incur  that  accusation  to  save  or  benefit  the  party  in  a  good 
cause,  what  is  the  use  of  inviting  such  an  accusation  by 
saying  something  which  at  this  time  can  have  no  influence 
for  good?  I  feel  well  out  of  it  by  the  condemnation  I 
have  received  at  the  hands  of  those  who  have  managed 
affairs,  and  by  the  nomination  of  men  whose  personal 
hatred  of  me  seemed  to  be  a  prerequisite  for  convention 
honors.  Others  who  fought  on  the  other  side  were  not 
anxious  to  see  me  gain  anything  from  the  outcome,  what¬ 
ever  it  might  be. 

“I  am  receiving  a  good  many  letters  from  all  sorts  of 
people,  which  confirm  me  in  the  belief  that,  whatever  the 
rest  think  they  ought  to  do,  I  ought  to  keep  silence — at 
least  until  conditions  change. 

“In  the  meantime  I  am  having  some  good  fishing  and 
promptly  attending  to  all  official  work  sent  me.” 

But  though  fully  conscious  of  his  position  in  the  party 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  227 

at  large,  he  believed  that  every  member  of  his  Cabinet 
was  with  him.  It  was,  therefore,  a  shock  to  receive  from 
Hoke  Smith,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  the  information 
that  he  considered  it  his  duty  to  support  Mr.  Bryan  pub¬ 
licly  in  his  paper.  This  appeared  to  Cleveland  almost 
incredible.  The  Atlanta  Journal  had  been  regarded  by 
sound  money  men  as  one  of  their  chief  instruments  for 
presenting  the  gold  cause  to  the  South,  and  an  elaborate 
sound  money  supplement  was  ready  for  the  press  when 
it  was  suddenly  decided  to  swing  the  paper  over  to  the 
support  of  Bryan.  The  cause  of  the  swing,  as  Secretary 
Smith  confessed  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Cleveland,  was  local. 
“I  consider  the  protection  of  person  and  property  in¬ 
volved  in  the  local  Democratic  success  which  can  only 
continue  through  Democratic  organization.  I  would 
strike  my  own  people  a  severe  blow  if  I  repudiated  a 
nominee  of  a  regular  convention,  thereby  setting  a  prece¬ 
dent  for  disorganization.  While  I  shall  not  accept  the 
platform,  I  must  support  the  nominee  of  the  Chicago 
Convention.” 

After  some  delay  the  President  sent  the  following 
answer : 

Gray  Gables 
Buzzards  Bay,  Mass. 

August  4 >  1896. 

My  Dear  Mr.  Smith. 

I  suppose  I  should  have  replied  to  your  letter  of  July 
20th  before ;  but  to  tell  you  the  truth  I  have  delayed  and 
hesitated  because  I  could  not  satisfy  myself  as  to  what 
I  should  write. 

I  have  determined  to  say  to  you  frankly  that  I  was 
astonished  and  much  disappointed  by  your  course  and 
that  I  am  by  no  means  relieved  by  the  reasons  you  present 
in  justification  of  it. 


/ 


228  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

When  you  addressed  the  citizens  of  your  state  so 
nobly  and  patriotically,  you  were  discussing  the  silver 
question  alone;  and  when  you  assured  them  that  you 
intended  to  support  the  nominee  of  the  National  Conven¬ 
tion  you  could  certainly  have  intended  no  more  than  to 
pledge  yourself  that  in  case  you  were  overruled  by  the 
convention  in  the  question  under  discussion  you  would 
accept  your  defeat  and  support  the  platform  and  candi- 
*  dates  which  represented  that  defeat.  This — considering 
your  strong  expressions  on  the  silver  question,  your  ear¬ 
nest  advocacy  of  sound  money  and  your  belief  in  its 
transcendent  importance — was  going  very  far. 

You  surely  could  not  have  intended  to  promise  sup¬ 
port  to  a  platform  directly  opposed  not  only  to  sound 
money  but  to  every  other  safe  and  conservative  doctrine 
or  policy,  and  framed  in  every  line  and  word  in  con¬ 
demnation  of  all  the  acts  and  policies  of  an  administration 
of  which  you  have  from  the  first  been  a  loyal,  useful  and 
honorable  member.  You  could  not  have  intended  a 
promise  to  uphold  candidates,  not  only  pledged  to  the 
support  and  advancement  of  this  destructive  and  undemo¬ 
cratic  platform,  but  whose  selection  largely  depended 
upon  the  depth  and  virulence  of  their  hatred  to  our  ad¬ 
ministration.  I  say  “our”  administration  because  I  have 
constantly  in  mind  the  work  we  have  done,  the  patriotism 
that  has  inspired  our  every  act,  the  good  we  have  accom¬ 
plished  and  the  evil  we  have  averted  in  the  face  of  the 
opposition  of  the  vicious  forces  that  have  temporarily 
succeeded  in  their  revolt  against  everything  good  and 
glorious  in  Democratic  faith  and  achievement. 

It  is  due  to  our  countrymen  and  to  the  safety  of  the 
nation  that  such  an  administration  should  not  be  dis¬ 
credited  or  stricken  down.  It  belongs  to  them  and  should 
be  protected  and  defended,  because  it  is  their  agency 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  229 

devoted  to  their  welfare  and  safety.  None  can  defend 
it  better  than  those  who  constitute  it,  and  know  the  sin¬ 
gleness  of  purpose  and  absolute  patriotism  that  have 
inspired  it.  You  say,  “While  I  shall  not  accept  the  plat¬ 
form,  I  must  support  the  nominees  of  the  Chicago  Con¬ 
vention.”  I  cannot  see  how  this  is  to  be  done.  It  seems 
to  me  like  straining  at  a  gnat  and  swallowing  a  camel. 

The  vital  importance  of  the  issues  involved  in  the 
national  campaign  and  my  failure  to  appreciate  the 
inseparable  relation  between  it  and  a  state  contest,  prevent 
me  from  realizing  the  force  of  your  reference  to  the 
“local  situation.”  I  suppose  much  was  said  about  the 
“local  situation”  in  i860. 

I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  you  have  been  influenced 
in  the  position  you  have  taken  by  the  same  desire  to  do 
exactly  right  that  has  guided  you  in  all  your  acts  as  a 
member  of  the  Cabinet.  You  know  how  free  my  asso¬ 
ciation  with  my  official  family  has  been,  from  any  at¬ 
tempt  to  influence  personal  action,  and  how  fully  that 
association  has  been  characterized  by  perfect  confidence 
and  a  spirit  of  unreserved  consultation  and  frankness. 

In  this  spirit  I  now  write.  I  have  no  personal  griev¬ 
ance  that  any  one  need  feel  called  on  to  even  notice.  My 
only  personal  desire  is  to  make  as  good  a  President  as 
possible  during  the  residue  of  my  term,  and  then  to  find 
retirement  and  peace;  but  I  cannot  believe  that  I  will  do 
my  duty  to  my  countrymen  or  party — either  as  President 
or  citizen,  by  giving  the  least  aid  and  comfort  to  the 
nominees  of  the  Chicago  Convention  or  the  ideas  they 
represent. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Hoke  Smith, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


230 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Before  this  letter  reached  him,  Mr.  Smith  wrote 
again : 


Department  of  the  Interior,  Washington, 

August  5,  1896. 

Mr.  President: 

I  had  the  honor,  on  July  20th,  of  advising  you  that 
I  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  support  the  nominee  of  the  Na¬ 
tional  Democratic  Convention,  notwithstanding  the  dec¬ 
laration  by  that  Convention  adverse  to  the  views  I 
entertain  on  the  financial  question. 

I  felt  then,  as  I  do  now,  that,  in  view  of  the  contrary 
position  assumed  by  some  of  the  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
the  proprieties  of  the  occasion  would  be  best  subserved 
by  stating  these  conditions  of  embarrassment,  and  leaving 
to  your  judgment  any  suggestion  that  would  insure  the 
unanimity  of  counsel  which  you  might  desire. 

To  that  communication  I  have  received  no  reply. 

I  am  constrained  to  infer  that  the  embarrassments 
suggested  by  my  letter  of  the  20th  ult.  are  recognized  by 
you  as  existing. 

I  therefore  tender  my  resignation  as  Secretary  of  the 
Interior. 

Very  respectfully, 

Hoke  Smith. 

This  letter  crossed  in  transit  Mr.  Cleveland’s  reply 
to  Secretary  Smith’s  first  letter;  and  accordingly  the 
Secretary  wrote  again: 

August  6,  1896 . 

My  dear  Mr.  President: 

I  was  very  much  pleased  to  receive  your  letter  of 
this  morning,  which  passed  mine  on  the  road.  I  must 
admit  that  I  was  a  little  hurt  by  your  continued  silence, 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  23 1 

for  I  can  scarcely  tell  you  how  much  I  would  feel  the 
loss  of  your  confidence. 

I  can  hardly  expect  you  to  see  the  situation  as  I  do, 
and  I  shall  not  undertake  further  to  present  it.  I  hope 
to  still  contribute  in  part  toward  helping  the  people  to 
appreciate  the  great,  patriotic  work  of  your  adminis¬ 
tration,  nor  do  I  believe  my  opportunity  to  do  so  will  be 
lessened  on  account  of  the  course  which  I  pursue.  My 
New  England  and  German  blood  do  not  fit  me  to  show 
feeling,  but  none  the  less  my  admiration  for  the  President 
has  grown  during  the  last  three  years  into  an  attachment 
scarcely  less  than  that  I  have  for  my  immediate  family. 

I  hope  I  am  sufficiently  devoted  to  the  nation,  but  in 
i860  I  should  have  gone  with  my  state,  and  now  I  must 
stand  by  it. 

Very  respectfully, 

Hoke  Smith. 

For  the  Cleveland  wing  of  the  party,  as  for  the  Presi¬ 
dent  himself,  neither  Bryanism  nor  McKinleyism  had 
any  appeal.  Of  the  two  they  preferred  the  latter,  al¬ 
though  McKinley’s  enthusiasm  for  sound  money  had 
come  so  late  as  to  smack  of  opportunism.  With  no  hope 
but  the  election  by  indirection  of  the  Republican  candi¬ 
date,  they  organized  the  National  Democratic  party,  that 
sound  money  and  Clevelandism  might  not  be  without 
witnesses  in  the  coming  campaign. 

On  September  2nd,  this  third  party,  belated  but  de¬ 
termined,  met  in  National  Convention  at  Indianapolis. 
“This  convention,”  declared  their  platform,  “has  assem¬ 
bled  to  uphold  the  principles  upon  which  depend  the 
honor  and  welfare  of  the  American  people,  in  order  that 
Democrats  .  .  .  may  unite  their  patriotic  efforts  to  avert 
disaster  from  their  country  and  ruin  from  their  party.” 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


232 

Denouncing  the  heresies  of  “protection  and  its  ally,  free 
coinage  of  silver,”  it  reaffirmed  the  doctrines  which  the 
Cleveland  regime  had  striven  to  promote,  and  praised 
“the  fidelity,  patriotism,  and  courage  with  which  Presi¬ 
dent  Cleveland  has  fulfilled  his  great  public  trust,  the 
high  character  of  his  administration,  its  wisdom  and 
energy  in  the  maintenance  of  civil  order  and  the  enforce¬ 
ment  of  the  laws,  its  equal  regard  for  the  rights  of  every 
class  and  every  section,  its  firm  and  dignified  conduct 
of  foreign  affairs,  and  its  sturdy  persistence  in  upholding 
the  credit  and  honor  of  the  nation.” 

Such  praise  at  such  a  time  was  sweet  even  to  so  unego- 
tistical  a  nature  as  the  President’s,  and  its  sincerity  was 
attested  by  the  following  telegram,  which  came  the  day 
the  platform  was  adopted: 

Indianapolis,  Ind.,  Sept .  J,  l8g6 . 
To  Hon.  Grover  Cleveland  : 

You  will  be  nominated  to-morrow  unless  you  make 
a  definite  refusal.  Strongly  urge  that  you  communicate 
privately  to  be  used  publicly  if  necessary  with  some 
friend  on  the  ground.  Otherwise  every  indication  you 
will  be  nominated  by  acclamation. 

D.  G.  Griffin. 

Mr.  Cleveland  at  once  telegraphed  in  reply: 

Buzzard’s  Bay,  Mass.,  Sept .  3,  l8g6.' 
To  Daniel  G.  Griffin, 

Chairman  New  York  Delegation, 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 

My  judgment  and  personal  inclinations  are  so  unal¬ 
terably  opposed  to  your  suggestion  that  I  cannot  for  a 
moment  entertain  it. 


Grover  Cleveland. 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  233 

But  his  heart  was  with  the  Gold  Democrats,  although 
his  name  was  withheld;  and  when  news  came  that  on  the 
first  ballot  John  M.  Palmer  had  been  nominated,  the 
President  thus  confided  his  approval  to  Colonel  Lamont: 

“I  am  delighted  with  the  result  of  the  Indianapolis 
Convention.  Its  platform  is  the  best  possible  statement 
of  the  true  doctrines  of  Democracy  and  makes  all  those 
who  believe  in  and  love  the  grand  old  organization  [feel] 
that  they  still  have  a  home.  I  am  gratified  to  know  that 
you  are  willing  to  declare  your  sentiments  and  the 
quicker  and  stronger  you  and  any  other  member  of  the 
Cabinet  speak  the  better  I  shall  like  it.  My  notion  is 
that  the  tone  should  be,  or  at  least  one  note  of  it,  that  the 
Indianapolis  platform  and  candidates  are  democratic  and 
the  Chicago  platform  and  candidates  are  not. 

“I  am  perplexed  concerning  the  course  I  should  pur¬ 
sue.  My  inclination,  of  course,  is  to  join  the  chorus  of 
denunciation,  but  I  am  doubtful  as  to  the  wisdom  of  such 
action,  in  the  light  of  a  chance  that  [it]  might  do  more 
harm  than  good.  My  position  cannot  be  misunderstood 
by  any  man,  woman,  or  child  in  the  country.  I  am  Presi¬ 
dent  of  all  the  people,  good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  and, 
as  long  as  my  opinions  are  known,  ought  perhaps  to  keep 
myself  out  of  their  squabbles.  I  must  attempt  to  co¬ 
operate  with  Congress  during  another  session  in  the  inter¬ 
est  of  needed  legislation,  and  perhaps  ought  not  to 
unnecessarily  further  alienate  that  body  and  increase  its 
hatred  of  me,  and  if  I  take  an  active  and  affirmatively 
aggressive  position  it  may  aid  the  cause  we  have  not  at 
heart,  in  increasing  the  effectiveness  of  the  cry  of  presi¬ 
dential  interference.  In  addition  to  all  this,  no  one  of 
weight  or  judgment  in  political  matters  has  advised  me 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


234 

to  speak  out — though  I  shall  be  surprised  if  Palmer  does 
not  urge  it  soon. 

“If  you  say  anything,  I  do  not  care  how  plainly  you 
present  the  inference  that  I  am  in  accord  with  your 
views.” 

Mr.  Cleveland’s  praise  was  for  those  who  “loved  the 
principles  of  their  party  too  well  to  follow  its  stolen 
banners  in  an  attack  upon  those  national  safeguards 
which  party  as  well  as  patriotism  should  at  all  times 
defend.”  But  he  was  too  shrewd  to  cherish  the  hope 
that  Palmer  could  be  chosen.  Thus  he  found  himself, 
a  Democratic  President  of  the  United  States,  hoping  to 
see  a  Republican  victory  which  would  place  McKinley 
at  the  head  of  the  nation. 

Although  determined  to  take  no  active  part  in  the 
coming  campaign,  he  felt  that  he  could,  without  vio¬ 
lating  this  purpose,  accept  one  invitation  which  reached 
him  in  the  early  autumn.  The  College  of  New  Jersey 
was  to  celebrate  on  October  22d  her  Sesquicentennial, 
and  to  mark  the  passage  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
of  public  service  by  taking  the  name  of  Princeton  Uni¬ 
versity.  With  the  escort  and  dignity  appropriate  to  his 
high  office  and  to  the  importance  of  the  occasion,  he 
appeared  at  Princeton  on  the  day  appointed,  and  in  the 
presence  of  a  company  of  scholars  from  many  lands,  and 
of  leading  Americans  from  many  sections,  delivered  one 
of  the  most  carefully  prepared  addresses  of  his  life.  The 
glory  of  an  educated  citizenship;  the  duty  of  a  college 
or  university  toward  the  state;  the  dangers  latent  in 
ignorance  concerning  the  great  natural  laws  upon  which 
organized  society  rest — these  were  his  themes.  He  spoke 
in  terms  suitable  to  a  purely  academic  function;  but 
many  of  his  carefully  phrased  sentences  turned  the  minds 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  235 

of  his  auditors,  and  of  the  millions  who  later  read  the 
address,  toward  the  question  of  the  hour:  “the  free  silver 
heresy,”  never  once  mentioned,  but  always  implied. 

“When  popular  discontent  and  passion,”  he  said,  “are 
stimulated  by  the  arts  of  designing  partisans  to  a  pitch 
perilously  near  to  class  hatred  or  sectional  anger,  I  would 
have  our  universities  and  colleges  sound  the  alarm  in  the 
name  of  American  brotherhood  and  fraternal  depend¬ 
ence.  When  the  attempt  is  made  to  delude  the  people 
into  the  belief  that  their  suffrage  can  change  the  operation 
of  natural  laws,  I  would  have  our  universities  and  col¬ 
leges  proclaim  that  those  laws  are  inexorable  and  far 
removed  from  political  control.  .  .  .  When  a  design  is 
apparent  to  lure  the  people  from  their  honest  thoughts 
and  to  blind  their  eyes  to  the  sad  plight  of  national  dis¬ 
honor  and  bad  faith,  I  would  have  Princeton  University, 
panoplied  in  her  patriotic  traditions  and  glorious  mem¬ 
ories,  and  joined  by  all  the  other  universities  and  colleges 
of  our  land,  cry  out  against  the  infliction  of  this  treach¬ 
erous  and  fatal  wound.” 

While  the  newspaper  men  sent  his  speech  broadcast, 
the  President  and  Mrs.  Cleveland  gave  themselves  up 
to  the  enjoyment  of  the  students’  enthusiasm.  Remember¬ 
ing  that  whatever  the  result  of  the  coming  election,  he 
must  seek  a  new  home  on  the  fourth  of  the  coming 
March,  he  observed  Princeton  with  the  eye  of  a  pros¬ 
pector,  and  the  prospector  became  in  spirit  the  intending 
settler  as  he  stood  with  his  wife  that  evening  on  the  steps 
of  Nassau  Hall,  where  Washington  had  received  the  first 
French  Ambassador. 

The  hour  of  the  scholar,  the  statesman,  the  savant 
from  many  lands,  had  passed  with  the  formal  meetings. 
This  was  the  hour  of  the  undergraduate.  The  students 
had  arranged  a  parade,  dotted  with  illuminated  trans- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


236 

parencies,  touched  with  the  humor  which  is  the  ever¬ 
present  asset  of  student  life  the  world  over.  As  the 
President  and  his  beautiful  wife  gazed  upon  the  passing 
show,  they  got  a  glimpse  of  a  transparency  bearing  the 
inscription:  “Grover,  send  your  boys  to  Princeton.”  At 
that  moment  the  Cleveland  “jewels”  consisted  of  three 
daughters:  Ruth,  Esther,  and  Marion,  born,  one  in  New 
York,  one  in  the  White  House,  and  the  third  at  the  Presi¬ 
dent’s  summer  home  at  Gray  Gables  on  Buzzard’s  Bay. 
No  son  had  appeared.  But  there  was  the  transparency, 
which,  as  they  looked,  moved  forward  and  halted  im¬ 
mediately  in  front  of  them:  “Grover,  send  your  boys  to 
Princeton.”  The  President  had  entered  Princeton  an 
admirer  of  the  college.  He  left  it  a  Princeton  man, 
although  he  had  declined  the  honorary  degree  which  was 
offered  him. 

From  the  academic  shades  of  the  university  he  passed 
again  into  the  hot  furnace  of  political  strife.  The  cam¬ 
paign  was  nearing  its  close.  Mr.  McKinley  upon  his 
front  porch  at  Canton,  Ohio,  and  Mr.  Bryan  from  an 
hundred  platforms  throughout  the  land,  had  discussed 
the  issue,  which  was  now  about  to  be  submitted  to  popu¬ 
lar  vote. 

With  election  day  came  a  landslide.  Mr.  Mc¬ 
Kinley  received  over  half  a  million  more  votes  than  Mr. 
Bryan,  with  the  comfortable  assurance  that  he  would 
enter  the  Presidency  with  a  Republican  majority  in  both 
House  and  Senate.  The  fight  had  been  made  for  prin¬ 
ciples  that  are  too  high  for  party  property,  and  the  fight 
was  won.  With  a  courage  that  few  men  in  his  situation 
have  displayed,  and  a  patriotism  that  will  be  honored  in 
all  coming  time,  Mr.  Cleveland  had  resisted  a  pressure 
strong  enough  to  have  overwhelmed  any  man  less  ready 
to  sacrifice  self  in  obedience  to  conviction. 


THE  WARWICK  OF  1896  237 

Mr.  Bryan  summed  up  the  cause  of  Democratic  de¬ 
feat  in  one  sentence:  “I  have  borne  the  sins  of  Grover 
Cleveland.”  But  Mr.  Bryan  had  not  borne  the  sins  of 
Grover  Cleveland.  He  had  borne  the  sins  of  a  funda¬ 
mental  financial  heresy,  in  the  making  of  which  Grover 
Cleveland  had  had  no  part  nor  lot.  And  Mr.  Cleveland, 
as  he  watched  the  celebrations  of  the  triumphant  gold- 
bugs,  knew  that  they  were  the  rejoicings  of  sound  money 
men  of  all  parties,  and  was  satisfied  that,  like  the  strong 
man,  he  had  slain  more  in  his  last  great  effort  than  he 
had  slain  in  his  life.  His  enemies  were  tireless  in  abuse, 
but  the  noise  and  vaporings  of  the  few  were  not  the  senti¬ 
ment  of  the  millions  who  were  patriots  before  being 
partisans. 

“When  the  history  of  the  present  time  comes  to  be 
seriously  written,”  declared  the  Baltimore  Evening 
News  of  November  4,  1896,  “the  name  of  the  hero  of 
this  campaign  will  be  that  of  a  man  who  was  not  a  can¬ 
didate,  not  a  manager,  not  an  orator;  the  fight  which  has 
just  been  won  was  made  possible  by  the  noble  service  of 
one  steadfast  and  heroic  citizen,  and  the  victory  which 
was  achieved  yesterday  must  be  set  down  as  the  crowning 
achievement  of  his  great  record.  ...  It  is  impossible  to 
overestimate  the  value  of  the  service  Grover  Cleveland 
has  done  through  his  twelve  years  of  unswerving  fidelity 
to  the  cause  of  honest  money.  .  .  .  This  is  Cleveland’s 
day,  the  vindication  of  his  course,  and  the  abundant  re¬ 
ward  of  his  steadfast  adherence  ...  to  that  principle 
of  honor  which  he  has  held  above  self,  above  party,  above 
expediency.” 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS 


“I  have  done  my  duty  as  I  saw'  it.  I  feel  that  I  need  no 
defense ” 


— Grover  Cleveland. 


IN  the  life  of  every  President  there  comes  at  last  the 
trying  period  which,  from  the  point  of  view  of  na¬ 
tional  leadership,  might  well  be  called  the  four  lean 
months.  During  this  time,  which  the  Constitution,  in 
obedience  to  former  conditions  of  travel,  allows  for  a 
retiring  President  to  stand  aside,  he  is  in  effect  a  broken 
vessel.  If  he  has  served  the  two  terms  fixed  by  custom 
as  the  limit  of  an  executive’s  official  days,  he  stands  as 
a  “has  been,”  a  leader  who  can  no  longer  lead.  If  he 
has  served  but  one  term  and  has.  been  defeated  for  re- 
election,  he  is  an  Ichabod,  whose  glory  has  departed. 

But  of  all  our  Presidents,  Grover  Cleveland  alone 
knew  both  these  periods  of  political  poverty.  In  1888  he 
was  a  defeated  President.  Now  he  was  to  have  the  still 
more  trying  experience  of  a  President  repudiated  by  his 
own  party,  which  had  itself  been  defeated,  and  which, 
not  without  reason,  blamed  him  for  its  defeat.  And  truly 
but  little  power  remained  to  him.  Either  he  was  no 
longer  a  Democrat,  or  the  Democratic  party  had  shrunk 
to  strangely  small  dimensions,  for  he  was  determined  to 
acknowledge  no  kinship  with  William  Jennings  Bryan 
or  the  infatuated  crowd  which  hailed  him  with  the  cry, 
“Bryan  is  our  savior.” 

1 

Grimly  he  accepted  his  position  of  “splendid  isola- 

238 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS  239 

tion,”  rejoicing  in  the  conviction  that  he  had  remained 
right,  even  when  his  party  had  gone  wrong.  He  knew 
that  what  he  termed  “The  True  Democracy”  was  com¬ 
posed  of  his  followers,  not  of  the  majority  now  wor¬ 
shipping  strange  gods  and  who,  as  he  expressed  it,  had 
with  “the  blight  of  treason  blasted  the  councils  of  the 
brave.”  Nor  were  Mr.  Bryan  and  his  friends  less  bitter. 
They,  in  their  turn,  denounced  the  ex-President  as  one 
who  had  used  his  party  for  his  own  selfish  gain,  and  sold 
it  out  to  the  enemy. 

From  time  to  time  came  rumors  of  impending  maga¬ 
zine  articles  planned  to  interpret  to  the  world  outstand¬ 
ing  incidents  in  his  presidential  career,  but  he  viewed 
them  lightly.  To  Mr.  Gilder,  who  wrote  him  an  anxious 
letter  upon  the  subject,  he  replied: 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 

November  20,  l8()6 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Gilder: 

You  are  quite  right.  There  are  now  three  projects 
on  foot  to  serve  me  up  and  help  people  to  breast  or  dark 
meat,  with  or  without  stuffing.  The  one  I  have  heard 
the  most  of  was,  when  I  last  got  a  sight  of  it,  running 

towards  Professor - the  man  who  made  The  Nation 

at  Princeton.  I’ve  forgotten  his  name.  [Woodrow 
Wilson.] 

I  don’t  know  in  the  shuffle  what  will  become  of  me 
and  my  poor  old  battered  name,  but  I  think  perhaps  I 
ought  to  look  after  it  a  little.  I  shall  probably  avail  my¬ 
self  of  your  kindness. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Mr.  Gilder  having  offered  his  own  brilliant  pen  in 
defense  of  the  “poor,  old,  battered  name,”  the  President 


240 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


gratefully  accepted  the  proffered  service,  despite  his  life¬ 
long  aversion  to  biographical  work  with  himself  as  the 
theme : 


Executive  Mansion,  Washington. 
Dec .  27,  1896. 

My  dear  Mr.  Gilder: 

I  was  very  much  touched  to  receive  on  Christmas  day, 
your  beautiful  and  valuable  gift,  made  more  impressive 
by  the  sentiment  suggested  on  the  card  accompanying  it.’ 
Of  all  men  in  the  world  you  know  best  that  I  do  honestly 
try  to  “keep  the  compass  true,”  and  I  am  convinced  that 
you  appreciate,  better  than  others,  how  misleading  the 
fogs  sometimes  are.  I  frequently  think  what  a  glorious 
boon  omniscience  would  be  to  one  charged  with  the 
Chief  Magistracy  of  our  nation. 

I  can  only  thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart, 
for  this  last,  of  many,  proofs  of  your  friendship,  and 
assure  you  of  the  comfort  and  encouragement  it  has  been 
to  me.  I  should  be  afflicted  if  my  barometer  ever  indi¬ 
cated  anything  but  “clear  weather”  in  our  relations. 

I  have  been  afraid  sometimes  since  I  left  you  here 
a  week  ago,  that  you  might  not  feel  like  bothering  us 
too  much  in  the  preparation  of  the  article  you  had  in 
proof.  I  want  to  say  to  you  that  you  must  draw  on  us 
to  any  extent  you  desire,  to  make  the  article  suit  you.  Of 
course  your  magazine  instinct  fits  you  to  judge  as  to  the 
items  that  will  interest  readers,  but  you  must  understand 
that  everything,  personal  or  otherwise,  that  would  be  at 
all  suitable  for  such  publication  is  at  your  disposal. 

For  example,  I  have  been  sometimes  surprised  and 
irritated  by  the  accusation  or  intimation  that  I  lacked  in 
appreciation  of  friendship  and  did  not  recognize  suffi¬ 
ciently  what  others  did  for  me.  Of  course  this  is  as  fa? 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS 


241 


from  the  truth  as  it  can  be,  and  can  only  have  its  rise  in 
a  refusal  on  my  part  to  compensate  friends  by  misap¬ 
propriation  from  the  trust  funds  of  public  duty.  To  this 
I  plead  guilty  on  many  charges;  but  no  one  is  more  de¬ 
lighted  than  I  when  friendship  and  public  duty  travel 
in  the  same  way.  Would  it  add  a  bit  to  the  interest  if 
the  reader  was  given  a  little  more  of  a  peep  at  the  home 
life  and  the  sustaining  influence  of  wife  and  children — 
working  in  the  remark  I  have  many  times  made,  in  dark 
and  trying  times  of  perplexing  public  affairs,  in  answer 
to  inquiries  after  the  welfare  of  my  family:  “They  are 
as  well  as  they  can  be.  It  is  this  end  of  the  house  that 
troubles  me.  If  things  should  go  jvrong  at  the  other  end 
I  would  feel  like  quitting  the  place  for  good”?  Having 
made  these  suggestions,  I  am  so  impressed  that  they  are 
useless  and  foolish  that  I  feel  like  telling  you  to  utterly 
disregard  them,  except  as  they  indicate  my  willingness 
to  do  anything  you  wish  in  the  premises. 

A  few  days  ago  Mr.  Gardiner  Hubbard  and  Mr. 
McClure  (of  McClure's  Magazine)  called  on  me  and 
said  Carl  Schurz  was  to  write  an  article  for  that  maga¬ 
zine  on  the  administration;  and  they  wanted  to  know 
if  Mr.  Cox  could  take  some  pictures,  etc.  Of  course  I 
could  not  object,  but  the  Century  article  was  spoken  of 
and  Professor  Wilson’s  too.  They  seemed  to  understand 
or  to  know  about  both,  and  thought  Mr.  Schurz  could 
hold  his  own  with  anyone  in  the  same  field.  I  suppose 
his  article  will  be  far  removed  from  the  track  of  yours. 

I  was  delighted  in  my  late  interview  with  Mr.  Schurz 
to  see  that  he  had  recovered  from  his  Venezuelan  scare 
and  was  quite  satisfied  apparently  with  the  civil  service 
reform  situation.  He  is  a  good  and  useful  man  and  I 
am  always  pleased  to  have  him  friendly,  but  as  I  told  him 
once,  he  is  “a  hard  master.”  I  only  hope  he  will  gain 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


242 

the  best  information  attainable  and  be  just.  I  know  he 
will  try  to  be. 

This  is  a  horribly  long  letter.  Give  my  love  to  Mrs. 
Gilder  and  believe  me 

Sincerely  your  friend 

Grover  Cleveland. 

R.  W.  Gilder,  Esq. 

But  conflicts  awaited  him  which  related  to  pending 
questions  and  which  perforce  took  precedence  over  mere 
matters  of  his  own  place  in  history.  From  the  beginning 
of  his  troubled  life  as  President,  with  its  not  infrequent 
threats  of  war,  some  undoubtedly  induced  by  his  mas¬ 
terful  method  of  conducting  foreign  affairs,  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land  had  worked  to  secure  the  adoption  of  an  arbitration 
treaty  between  the  United  States  and  England.  Mr. 
Carnegie,  already  famous  for  his  services  to  the  cause  of 
arbitration,  had  pronounced  him  “as  strong  a  supporter 
of  that  policy  as  ever  I  met.”  But  the  ceaseless  disputes 
about  fisheries,  which  had  raged  with  ever-increasing 
bitterness  since  the  Senate’s  rejection  of  his  treaty  of 
1888,  had  fostered  emotions  unfavorable  to  the  project. 
Now,  however,  beneath  Secretary  Olney’s  guiding  hand, 
the  irritating  question,  “What  are  the  rights  of  American 
fishermen?”  had  given  place  to  the  greater  question :  “Are 
we  willing  to  agree  that  all  matters  in  difference  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  shall  be  settled  by 
friendly  arbitration?” 

On  January  1 1,  1897,  a  treaty  to  that  effect,  negotiated 
by  Secretary  Olney  and  Sir  Julian  Pauncefote,  was  sent 
by  Mr.  Cleveland  to  the  Senate.  It  bound  the  two  na¬ 
tions,  for  a  period  of  five  years,  “to  submit  to  arbitration, 
in  accordance  with  the  provisions  and  subject  to  the 
limitations  of  this  treaty,  all  questions  in  difference  be- 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS 


243 

tween  them  which  they  may  fail  to  adjust  by  diplomatic 
negotiations/’  and  provided  for  the  appointment  of 
arbritrators.  It  was  Mr.  Cleveland’s  hope  that  this  treaty 
might  stand  beside  the  pending  Venezuelan  treaty  as  his 
last  great  act  of  service,  not  only  to  England  and  Amer¬ 
ica,  but  to  the  general  cause  of  peace.  “Its  ultimate  ensu¬ 
ing  benefits,”  he  said,  “are  not  likely  to  be  limited  to  the 
two  countries  immediately  concerned.  .  .  .  The  example 
set  and  the  lesson  furnished  by  the  successful  operation 
of  this  treaty  are  sure  to  be  felt  and  taken  to  heart  sooner 
or  later  by  other  nations,  and  will  thus  mark  the  begin¬ 
ning  of  a  new  epoch  in  civilization.” 

The  publication  of  the  message,  with  an  outline  of  the 
treaty,  was  the  signal  for  demonstrations  of  enthusiasm 
in  both  countries.  The  New  York  Tribune ,  aftet  a 
canvass  of  the  members  of  Congress,  announced  that: 
“From  each  came  expressions  of  cordial  satisfaction. 
There  was  not  a  discordant  note.”  The  London  Standard 
declared  that  it  was  proof  positive  that  the  lessons  of  the 
panic  that  followed  the  Venezuelan  Message  had  not 
been  thrown  away,  and  the  London  Times  ventured  to 
predict  that  the  Senate  would  not  “defeat  a  policy  that 
has  obtained  a  decided  and  unusual  degree  of  approval 
among  the  American  people.”  And  indeed  the  whole 
country  recognized  the  treaty  not  only  as  the  crowning 
glory  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  administration,  but  as  a  fitting 
climax  to  the  century  of  civilization  that  was  drawing  to 
its  close.  Chambers  of  Commerce,  boards  of  trade, 
church  congresses,  and  the  leading  newspapers  through¬ 
out  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land  were  urgently 
insistent  upon  the  ratification  of  this  treaty  of  lasting 
peace  between  the  two  greatest  nations  of  the  world. 

On  February  2d,  Senator  Sherman,  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  reported  the  treaty 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


244 

favorably,  five  out  of  six  Republican  members  of  the 
committee  having  voted  in  favor  of  such  a  report,  while 
three  out  of  the  four  Democratic  members  had  opposed  it. 
For  six  weeks  thereafter  it  remained  under  debate  in 
executive  session.  Some  Senators  objected  that  such  a 
treaty,  if  ratified  before  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  of 
1850  was  definitely  abrogated,  would  amount  to  a  sur¬ 
render  of  the  American  dream  of  building  and  con¬ 
trolling  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Others 
devised  amendments  which  brought  on  renewed  discus¬ 
sion,  while  still  others  talked  for  the  sake  of  passing  the 
time.  Toward  the  end  of  the  session,  the  treaty  was  re¬ 
ferred  back  to  the  committee,  and  in  consequence  the  end 
of  the  Cleveland  administration  saw  it  still  in  the  pos¬ 
session  of  that  body,  no  vote  having  been  taken  in  the 
Senate  itself. 

On  March  17th,  when  Sherman,  now  Secretary  of 
State,  met  the  Senate  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations, 
he  was  told  that  the  Arbitration  Treaty  would  be  re¬ 
ported  favorably  on  the  following  day,  and  this  was  done; 
but  more  discussion  was  the  only  immediate  result.  At 
last,  on  May  5th,  it  came  up  for  decision  and  was  lost, 
only  forty-three  votes  being  cast  in  favor  of  what  re¬ 
mained  of  it  after  months  of  senatorial  amending  had 
left  it  a  mere  skeleton. 

To  Mr.  Cleveland  and  Mr.  Olney,  now  private  cit¬ 
izens,  this  outcome  was  a  bitter  disappointment.  “The 
treaty,”  sarcastically  declared  the  latter,  “in  getting  itself 
made  by  the  sole  act  of  the  Executive,  without  leave  of 
the  Senate  first  had  and  obtained,  had  committed  the  un¬ 
pardonable  sin.  It  must  be  either  altogether  defeated 
or  so  altered  as  to  bear  an  unmistakable  Senate  stamp — 
and  thus  be  the  means  both  of  humiliating  the  Executive 
and  of  showing  to  the  world  the  greatness  of  the  Senate. 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS 


24^ 

Hence,  the  treaty  has  been  assailed  from  all  quarters  and 
by  Senators  of  all  parties,  and  although  the  present 
Executive  advocated  its  ratification  no  less  warmly  than 
his  predecessor.  The  method  of  assault  has  been  as 
insidious  as  it  has  been  deadly.  .  .  .  Before  the  treaty 
came  to  a  final  vote,  the  Senate  brand  had  been  put  upon 
every  part  of  it,  and  the  original  instrument  had  been 
mutilated  and  distorted  beyond  all  possibility  of  recog¬ 
nition.  The  object  of  the  Senate  in  dealing  with  the 
treaty — the  assertion  of  its  own  predominance — was  thus 
successfully  accomplished  and  would  have  been  even  if 
the  treaty  as  amended  had  been  ratified.”  Its  defeat  was, 
Olney  declared,  “a  calamity,  not  merely  of  national  but 
of  world-wide  proportions.” 

The  other  subject  which  disturbed  the  closing  months 
of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  public  life,  was  that  of  the  revolution 
in  Cuba.  In  February,  1895,  the  Cubans  had  rebelled 
against  their  Spanish  masters,  and  on  September  25th  of 
that  year  Secretary  Olney  had  reported  to  the  President: 
“The  situation  of  affairs  in  Cuba  seems  to  me  one  calling 
for  the  careful  consideration  of  the  Executive.  The  Span¬ 
ish  side  is  naturally  the  side  of  which  I  have  heard,  and 
do  hear,  the  most.  It  is,  in  substance,  that  the  insurgents 
belong  to  the  lowest  order  of  the  population  of  the  Island, 
do  not  represent  its  property  or  its  intelligence  or  its  true 
interests,  are  the  ignorant  and  vicious  and  desperate 
classes  marshaled  under  the  leadership  of  a  few  adven¬ 
turers,  and  would  be  incapable  of  founding  or  maintain¬ 
ing  a  decent  government  if  their  revolution  against  Spain 
were  to  be  successful.  .  .  .  There  are,  however,  grounds 
for  questioning  the  correctness  of  this  view.  .  .  .  The 
Cuban  insurgents  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  the  scum  of 
the  earth  ...  In  sympathy  and  feeling  nine  tenths  of 
the  Cuban  population  are  with  them.  .  .  .  The  property 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


246 

class  to  a  man  is  disgusted  with  Spanish  misrule,  with  a 
system  which  has  burdened  the  Island  with  $300,000,000 
of  debt,  whose  impositions  in  the  way  of  annual  taxes 
just  stop  short  of  prohibiting  all  industrial  enterprise, 
and  which  yet  does  not  fulfill  the  primary  functions  of 
government  by  insuring  safety  to  life  and  security  to 
property.” 

As  an  illustration  of  Spanish  methods,  he  cited  “the 
short  and  effective  way  the  government  has  of  dealing 
with  non-combatant  suspects.  A  file  of  soldiers  visits 
certain  designated  houses  at  night — the  proscribed  per¬ 
sons  are  carried  off — but,  partly  for  the  torture  of  the 
thing,  and  partly  because  the  noise  of  the  firearms  is  to 
be  avoided,  they  are  not  shot  but  chopped  to  pieces 
with  the  small  axes  that  the  Spaniards  call  machetes  ” 
He  summed  up  his  conclusions  with  the  declaration  that 
the  Cuban  revolution  was  “just  in  itself,  commanding  the 
sympathy,  if  not  the  open  support,  of  the  great  bulk  of 
the  population  affected,  and  capable  of  issuing  in  an 
established,  constitutional  government,”  and  expressed 
the  conviction  that  within  a  few  months  either  Cuba 
would  be  smothered  in  its  own  blood,  or  be  “in  the 
market,  for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder,”  as  Spain  would 
never  be  able  to  suppress  the  rebellion.  He  warned  the 
President  that  American  “politicians  of  all  stripes,  in¬ 
cluding  Congressmen,”  were  “setting  their  sails,  or  pre¬ 
paring  to  set  them,  so  as  to  catch  the  popular  breeze,” 
which  blew  in  the  direction  of  a  recognition  of  Cuban 
belligerency. 

Since  then  the  soundness  of  Mr.  Olney’s  observations 
had  been  amply  demonstrated.  Spain’s  weakness  and 
increasing  cruelty,  the  unconquerable  persistence  of  the 
insurrectionists,  and  the  drift  of  American  public  sym¬ 
pathy,  all  had  revealed  themselves  with  unmistakable 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS 


247 

clearness.  Other  dangers,  too,  had  emerged.  The  rights 
of  American  citizens  in  Cuba  had  become  manifestly 
unsafe,  their  lives  manifestly  in  danger. 

As  these  facts  had  appeared,  Congress  had  shown  an 
increasing  tendency  to  seize  control,  or  as  Ambassador 
Bayard  expressed  it,  had  seemed  “strangely  inclined  to 
reverse  the  order  of  the  Constitution,  and  .  .  .  send  mes¬ 
sages  and  information  to  the  Executive — not  to  receive 
them  from  him.”  This  undoubted  tendency  Congress 
had  already  expressed  in  a  concurrent  resolution  declar¬ 
ing  that  Cuban  belligerent  rights  should  be  promptly 
recognized,  a  resolution  which  Secretary  Olney  iron¬ 
ically  characterized  as  “an  interesting  expression  of 
opinion.”  It  had,  however,  apparently  made  not  the 
slightest  impression  either  upon  him  or  upon  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land,  who  insisted  that  the  conduct  of  America’s  foreign 
affairs  belonged  by  law  to  the  Executive,  and  that  while 
Congress  had  the  right  to  declare  war,  it  was  the  Presi¬ 
dent’s  duty  to  maintain  peace  until  war  was  declared. 

The  end  of  October  brought  developments  which 
made  the  task  of  preserving  peace  vastly  more  difficult. 
On  the  2 1  st  of  that  month,  Valeriano  Weyler,  the  Spanish 
Captain-General  of  Cuba,  issued  his  order  of  reconcen¬ 
tration,  and  with  it  the  Spanish  policy  of  suppression 
became  a  policy  of  extermination.  The  simple  peasants 
from  the  outlying  districts,  most  of  whom  had  shown 
sympathy  for  the  rebellion,  were  driven  into  the  fortified 
towns  and  there  subjected  to  treatment  which  called  pes¬ 
tilence  to  the  aid  of  the  sword  for  their  destruction.  Four 
hundred  thousand  reconcentrados  were  soon  kenneled  in 
these  urban  pens  of  disease  and  starvation,  while  the 
world  looked  on  in  horror.  The  situation  thus  created 
required  firm  and  wise  leadership,  as  a  declaration  of 
war  was  inevitable  unless  some  new  solution  could  speed- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


248 

ily  be  made  effective.  Such  a  solution  Mr.  Cleveland 
believed  to  lie  in  the  purchase  of  the  island,  though  he 
held  the  mailed  fist  ready,  should  this  or  other  peaceful 
methods  fail  to  secure  protection  for  American  life  and 
property. 

In  his  last  annual  message  of  December  7,  1896,  he 
made  this  fact  clear,  declaring  that  from  thirty  to  fifty 
million  dollar's  of  American  capital  was  involved  in 
the  fate  of  Cuba,  and  that  the  revolution  had  virtually 
ruined  American  trade  in  the  island,  and  added :  “It  can¬ 
not  be  reasonably  assumed  that  the  hitherto  expectant 
attitude  of  the  United  States  will  be  indefinitely  main¬ 
tained.  While  we  are  anxious  to  accord  all  due  respect  to 
the  sovereignty  of  Spain,  we  cannot  view  the  pending 
conflict  in  all  its  features  and  properly  apprehend  our 
inevitably  close  relations  to  it  and  its  possible  results 
without  considering  that  by  the  course  of  events  we  may 
be  drawn  into  such  an  unusual  and  unprecedented  con¬ 
dition  as  will  fix  a  limit  to  our  patient  waiting  for  Spain 
to  end  the  contest,  either  alone  and  in  her  way  or  with 
our  friendly  co-operation. 

“When  the  inability  of  Spain  to  deal  successfully 
with  the  insurrection  has  become  manifest,  and  it  is 
demonstrated  that  her  sovereignty  is  extinct  in  Cuba  for 
all  purposes  of  its  rightful  existence,  and  when  a  hope¬ 
less  struggle  for  its  re-establishment  has  degenerated  into 
a  strife  which  means  nothing  more  than  the  useless  sacri¬ 
fice  of  human  life  and  the  utter  destruction  of  the  very 
subject  matter  of  the  conflict,  a  situation  will  be  pre¬ 
sented  in  which  our  obligations  to  the  sovereignty  of 
Spain  will  be  superseded  by  higher  obligations,  which 
we  can  hardly  hesitate  to  recognize  and  discharge. 

“Deferring  the  choice  of  ways  and  methods  until  the 
time  for.  action  arrives,  we  should  make  them  depend 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS 


2.49 

upon  the  precise  conditions  then  existing,  and  they  should 
not  be  determined  upon  without  giving  careful  heed  to 
every  consideration  involving  our  honor  and  interests,  or 
the  international  duty  we  owe  to  Spain.  Until  we  face 
the  contingencies  suggested,  or  the  situation  is  by  other 
incidents  imperatively  changed,  we  should  continue  in 
the  line  of  conduct  heretofore  pursued,  thus  in  all  cir¬ 
cumstances  exhibiting  our  obedience  to  the  requirements 
of  public  law  and  our  regard  for  the  duty  enjoined  upon 
us  by  the  position  we  occupy  in  the  family  of  nations. 

“A  contemplation  of  emergencies  that  may  arise 
should  plainly  lead  us  to  avoid  their  creation,  either 
through  a  careless  disregard  of  present  duty  or  even  an 
undue  stimulation  and  ill-timed  expression  of  feeling. 
But  I  have  deemed  it  not  amiss  to  remind  the  Congress 
that  a  time  may  arrive  when  a  correct  policy  and  care 
for  our  interests,  as  well  as  a  regard  for  the  interests  of 
other  nations  and  their  citizens,  joined  by  considerations 
of  humanity  and  a  desire  to  see  a  rich  and  fertile  coun¬ 
try,  intimately  related  to  us,  saved  from  complete  devas¬ 
tation,  will  constrain  our  government  to  such  action  as 
will  subserve  the  interests  thus  involved,  and  at  the  same 
time  promise  to  Cuba  and  its  inhabitants  an  opportunity 
to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  peace.”  And  he  added  this 
phrase,  characteristically  Clevelandesque :  “The  United 
States  is  not  a  country  to  which  peace  is  necessary.”  This 
hint  of  possible  intervention  fanned  the  flame  of  public 
opinion,  and  encouraged  Congress  to  hope  that  it  might 
force  the  President’s  hand. 

“I  was  with  the  President  at  Woodley,  near  Wash¬ 
ington,  one  Sunday  afternoon,”  says  Mr.  A.  B.  Farquhar, 
“when  some  members  of  Congress  came  in  and  said,  ‘Mr. 
President,  we  wish  to  see  you  on  an  important  matter.’ 
I  got  up,  but  he  motioned  me  to  keep  my  seat.  They  said, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


250 

(We  have  about  decided  to  declare  war  against  Spain 
over  the  Cuban  question.  Conditions  are  intolerable.’ 

“Mr.  Cleveland  drew  himself  up  and  said,  ‘There 
will  be  no  war  with  Spain  over  Cuba  while  I  am 
President.’ 

“One  of  the  members  flushed  up  and  said  angrily, 
‘Mr.  President,  you  seem  to  forget  that  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  gives  Congress  the  right  to  declare  war.’ 

“He  answered,  ‘Yes,  but  it  also  makes  me  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  and  I  will  not  mobilize  the  army.  I 
happen  to  know  that  we  can  buy  the  Island  of  Cuba  from 
Spain  for  $100,000,000,  and  a  war  will  cost  vastly  more 
than  that  and  will  entail  another  long  list  of  pensioners. 
It  would  be  an  outrage  to  declare  war.’  ” 

Mr.  Cleveland’s  belief  that  Spain  might  be  induced 
to  sell  Cuba  for  $100,000,000  doubtless  rested  in  part 
upon  the  information  obtained  in  a  letter  kept  among  his 
private  papers,  and  written  from  London  by  H.  Plasson 
to  Senator  Call,  of  Florida.  It  is  marked  “the  strictest 
secrecy,”  and  declares  that  in  1892  a  group  of  London 
bankers  had  raised  £20,000,000,  with  which  to  purchase 
the  independence  of  the  island,  provided  Cuba  would 
assume  the  responsibility  of  the  debt,  and  that  a  negotia¬ 
tor  had  been  sent  to  Madrid  with  this  purpose  in  view. 
Mr.  Plasson  was  cabled  to  join  this  agent,  but  two  days 
before  he  reached  the  capital  the  Spanish  Cabinet  had 
fallen.  At  the  close  of  the  letter  Mr.  Plasson  suggested 
to  Senator  Call:  “If  you  think  I  can  be  of  any  use  to 
you  ...  I  will  undertake  to  group  again  the  bankers 
referred  to.” 

With  the  idea  of  purchase  in  mind,  Mr.  Cleveland 
summoned  the  well-known  international  lawyer,  Frederic 
R.  Coudert,  in  a  note  which  shows  that  he  had  continued 
his  custom  of  late  working  hours: 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS 


2.5 1 

Feb.  28 ,  1897.  (Sunday) 

My  dear  Mr.  Coudert: 

Can  you  not  call  on  me  at  some  hour  this  evening  to 
suit  your  convenience?  Any  time  from  8  P.  M.  to  2 
A.  M.  will  do  for  me. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  F.  R.  Coudert, 

Arlington  Hotel. 

When  Mr.  Coudert  arrived,  the  President  confided 
to  him  his  fear  that  war  with  Spain  was  imminent  unless 
an  adjustment  could  be  reached  at  once,  and  expressed 
the  belief  that  such  a  war  would  be  the  result  of  the 
activities  of  Americans  in  Cuba.  He  mentioned  the 
American  Consul  General,  General  Fitzhugh  Lee,  as 
their  ringleader.  He  proposed  that  Mr.  Coudert  under¬ 
take  a  mission  to  the  Spanish  authorities  in  Cuba,  and 
expressed  the  belief  that,  through  his  command  of  the 
Spanish  tongue  and  his  unusual  knowledge  of  Spain  and 
Cuba,  war  might  yet  be  avoided. 

Mr.  Coudert  objected  that  within  a  few  days  there 
would  be  a  new  President  of  the  United  States,  and  a 
new  Cabinet,  who  would  naturally  wish  to  form  their 
own  policies  and  choose  their  own  personnel  in  the  face 
of  the  Cuban  situation.  To  this  the  President  replied 
that  in  his  opinion  Mr.  McKinley,  as  a  high-minded  and 
patriotic  American,  would  never  enter  an  unnecessary 
war,  and  that  if  Mr.  Coudert  would  accept  the  appoint¬ 
ment,  he  himself  would  take  up  the  matter  with  the 
incoming  administration.  Pressed  at  last  to  an  immediate 
decision,  Mr.  Coudert  answered  that  his  health  was  so 
impaired  that  he  would  not  dare  to  undertake  so  arduous 
and  difficult  a  mission.  And  so,  when  the  fourth  of 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


252 

March  came,  the  Cuban  situation  remained  unsolved, 
and  with  forebodings  of  impending  conflict  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land  was  compelled  to  hand  over  this  great  responsibility 
to  the  new  administration,  to  be  by  it  handled  in  the 
interests  of  peace,  and  ultimately  disposed  of  by  the  grim 
methods  of  war. 

The  last  official  hours  of  President  Cleveland  were 
spent  in  the  same  careful  service  to  the  public  which  he 
had  always  given.  Patiently  he  waded  through  the  ac¬ 
cumulation  of  official  business,  making  the  greatest  elec¬ 
tive  office  in  the  world  ready  for  the  leader  of  the 
opposing  party.  He  had  known  abuse,  party  treachery, 
malicious  personal  slander,  and  scarcely  veiled  contempt 
from  many  loyal  Americans  who  should  have  recognized 
his  greatness.  All  that,  however,  was  now  history,  and 
as  such  did  not  concern  him  overmuch. 

Three  days  before  his  retirement  his  friend,  A.  B. 
Farquhar,  wrote  a  defense  of  the  President*  and  sent  it 
to  the  White  House  with  the  request  that  it  be  endorsed 
for  publication,  and  on  March  4th,  despite  the  excitement 
incident  to  his  last  hours  in  office,  Mr.  Cleveland 
answered : 

My  dear  Friend : 

In  a  few  hours  I  will  cease  to  be  President.  The 
people  seem  to  have  deserted  me,  and  I  would  advise  you 
to  withhold  this  publication.  Any  defense  of  me  will 
only  hurt  you,  and  since  I  have  done  my  duty  as  I  saw  it,  I 
feel  that  I  need  no  defense. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

The  paean  of  thanksgiving  raised  by  the  free  silver 
and  the  Populist  press  expressed  a  far  different  opinion. 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS  253 

Their  denunciations  are  reminiscent  of  those  with  which 
the  extreme  Democratic  press  greeted  Washington’s 
retirement  in  1797.  Human  ingenuity  for  the  coining 
of  billingsgate  was  taxed  to  the  utmost  to  invent  phrases 
more  insulting  than  those  with  which  Benjamin  Bache 
and  his  fellow  scribes  had  daubed  their  pages  as  parting 
insults  to  the  man  who  had  made  America.  “Grover 
Cleveland  will  go  out,”  declared  the  Atlanta  Constitution 
on  March  4,  1897,  “under  a  greater  burden  of  popular 
contempt  than  has  ever  been  excited  by  a  public  man 
since  the  foundation  of  the  government.”  “The  Demo¬ 
cratic  party  which  he  has  deceived,  betrayed  and  humili¬ 
ated,”  said  the  Kansas  City  Times  of  the  same  date,  “long 
ago  stamped  him  as  a  political  leper  and  cast  him  out  as 
one  unclean.  The  reproaches  and  contumely  of  the  entire 
American  people  accompany  him  in  his  retirement.”  A 
Populist  orator  of  Minnesota  assured  the  Legislature  of 
that  State  that  Grover  Cleveland  would  leave  the  White 
House  “with  the  ignominious  distinction  that  he  is  the 
first  President  who  ever  accumulated  millions  during  his 
term  of  office.”  To  this  slander  Lamont  replied  with  the 
following  statement:  “The  retiring  President  has  prop¬ 
erty  amounting  all  told  to  $300,000  or  $350,000  acquired 
from  salary  during  two  terms,  fees  received  during  the 
period  of  New  York  law  practice,  and  about  $100,000  of 
profits  from  the  purchase  of  real  estate  just  outside 
Washington.” 

Before  completing  his  arrangements  for  his  final  de¬ 
parture,  Mr.  Cleveland  called  William  and  told  him  to 
take  the  portrait  by  Eastman  Johnson  and  put  it  in  the 
attic.  He  saw  no  good  reason  why  the  White  House 
should  treasure  his  picture,  and  he  had  not  vanity  enough 
to  wish  to  see  it  left  there. 

At  the  hour  appointed  for  the  inauguration  cere- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


254 

monies,  he  joined  the  President-elect  and  drove  with  him 
to  the  Capitol,  and  as  he  gravely  greeted  the  crowds 
which  lined  his  pathway,  or  rather  the  pathway  of  the 
President  soon  to  be,  he  rejoiced  in  the  thought  that, 
while  his  party  had  been  defeated,  his  policies  had  won 
a  signal  victory.  Such  also  must  have  been  his  thoughts 
as  he  stood  a  little  behind  his  successor,  with  head  bowed, 
listening  to  the  solemn  oath  of  office  administered  by 
Chief  Justice  Fuller. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  a  President  and  an  ex-Presi- 
dent  of  opposite  political  parties  ever  separated  with  such 
cordial  relations  as  did  McKinley  and  Cleveland. 
McKinley  thanked  the  retiring  President  for  all  that 
had  been  done  to  make  things  smooth  for  the  new  admin¬ 
istration,  and  said:  “Now,  Mr.  Cleveland,  isn’t  there 
something  you  would  like  me  to  do  for  you?”  “No,  Mr. 
President,”  replied  Mr.  Cleveland,  “there  is  nothing  that 
I  want  personally;  but  I  beg  you  to  remember  that  the 
time  may  come  again  when  it  will  be  necessary  to  have 
another  union  of  the  forces  which  supported  honest 
money  against  this  accursed  heresy;  and  for  this  reason 
I  ask  you  to  use  all  your  influence  against  such  extreme 
action  as  would  prevent  such  a  union.” 

McKinley  answered  that  he  fully  appreciated  the 
danger  and  the  necessity,  and  that  he  had  already  begun 
to  act  in  that  direction  in  the  make-up  of  his  Cabinet. 
Both  were  much  moved  and  both  spoke  with  deep  feel¬ 
ing.  Mr.  "Cleveland  expressed  the  hope  that  the  new 
President,  when  it  came  his  turn  to  go  out,  would  not 
have  so  many  reasons  to  be  glad.  To  this  Mr.  McKinley 
replied  courteously  that  his  [Mr,  Cleveland’s]  place  in 
history  was  assured. 

The  ceremony  of  handing  over  a  nation  being  com¬ 
plete,  Grover  Cleveland,  not  President  but  simple  citizen, 


THE  FOUR  LEAN  MONTHS 


255 

joined  Admiral  Evans,  Captain  Lamberton,  and  Leonard 
Wood  for  a  fortnight’s  outing.  “I  remember  him  as  he 
came  aboard  the  ship,  immediately  after  the  great 
inaugural  parade,”  writes  General  Wood.  “He  was  tired 
and  worn  from  weeks  of  hard  work  and  the  strain  of  the 
long  hard  day,  and  as  we  were  pulling  off  from  the  dock 
.  .  .  he  sat  down  with  a  sigh  of  relief,  glad  that  it  was 
all  over.  ‘I  have  had  a  long  talk  with  President  McKin¬ 
ley,’  he  said.  ‘He  is  an  honest,  sincere,  and  serious  man. 
I  feel  that  he  is  going  to  do  his  best  to  give  the  country 
a  good  administration.  He  impressed  me  as  a  man  who 
will  have  the  best  interests  of  the  people  at  heart.’  Then 
he  stopped  and  added,  with  a  sigh:  ‘I  envy  him  to-day 
only  one  thing,  and  that  was  the  presence  of  his  mother 
at  his  inauguration.’  ” 

For  the  next  two  weeks,  by  day  in  shooting  boxes,  by 
night  in  the  cozy  cabin  of  the  ship,  he  enjoyed  his  liberty 
as  only  the  true  sportsman  can  enjoy  it.  “If  he  found 
himself  in  a  poor  position  for  shooting,”  said  General 
Wood,  “he  would  always  insist  on  staying  there,  never 
permitting  any  of  us  to  be  displaced  .  .  .  nor  would  he 
allow  anything  to  be  done  for  him  which  would  seem  to 
give  him  an  undue  advantage.”  He  scorned  special 
privileges,  and  any  suggestion  of  carrying  his  gun  was 
certain  to  be  rejected  with  the  words :  “On  this  expedition, 
every  fellow  does  his  own  carrying.” 

At  the  end  of  the  trip,  when  the  last  of  his  companions, 
Leonard  Wood,  left  him  on  the  platform  of  his  home- 
bound  train,  Mr.  Cleveland  suddenly  realized  that  he  was 
alone,  and  again  a  free  man.  Waving  his  hand  in  fare¬ 
well,  he  called  gayly:  “If  you  don’t  mind,  just  ask  the 
conductor  to  roll  me  off  at  Princeton.” 


CHAPTER  IX 


RETIRES  TO  PRINCETON 

"I  feel  like  a  locomotive  hitched  to  a  hoys  express  wagon " 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

WHEN  the  conductor  “rolled  him  off  at  Princeton” 
on  March  1 8,  1897,  his  sixtieth  birthday  as  it 
chanced,  Mr.  Cleveland  believed  himself  the  most  un¬ 
popular  man  in  America,  and  there  was  some  justification 
for  the  belief.  The  Bryanites  hated  him  for  having 
caused  the  defeat  of  Their  leader,  while  the  triumphant 
Republicans  were  not  yet  ready  to  give  him  any  of  the 
credit  for  their  success.  Thus  reviled  by  the  one  and 
disregarded  by  the  other,  he  was  a  man  without  a  party. 

He  arrived  in  Princeton  in  a  pouring  rain  and  was 
driven  to  his  new  home,  “Westland,”  a  substantial  colonial 
mansion  of  stone  covered  with  stucco  and  set  in  spacious 
grounds  dotted  with  fine  old  trees.  As  he  had  made  the 
purchase  without  seeing  the  property,  he  was  eager  to 
inspect  it,  but  the  rain  prevented.  But  though  he  chafed 
under  this  enforced  restraint,  he  weathered  the  storm  as 
he  had  weathered  so  many  before  it,  and  frankly  luxuri¬ 
ated  in  the  unaccustomed  freedom  from  pressing  responsi¬ 
bilities.  “I  am  enjoying  the  first  holiday  of  my  life,”  he 
remarked  to  an  inquisitive  reporter.  “I  have  worked 
hard.  Now  I  am  entitled  to  rest.  My  mission  in  life  has 
been  accomplished.” 

Dropping  at  once  into  the  spirit  of  the  place,  he 

watched  with  interest  the  arrangement  of  his  books,  and 

adjusted  the  angle  of  his  desk  with  a  critical  eye  to  the 

25$ 


RETIRES  TO  PRINCETON  257 

• 

question  of  light.  A  careful  survey  of  his  accumulated 
volumes  convinced  him  that  there  were  many  which 
would  never  interest  him.  There  were  books  in  unknown 
tongues,  sent  by  foreign  admirers,  ignorant  of  the  fact 
that  Grover  Cleveland’s  reading  was  all  done  in  his  native 
language.  There  were  presentation  copies  of  works  on 
science,  works  on  art,  works  on  music,  medicine,  and 
mines,  for  which  he  saw  no  reason  to  provide  house  room. 
He  accordingly  telephoned  to  the  University  Library  that 
if  one  of  the  librarians  would  come  up  he  might  choose 
such  of  these  books  as  the  University  wished.  One  of  the 
young  assistants,  Varnum  Lansing  Collins,  later  Secre¬ 
tary  of  the  University,  was  accordingly  dispatched.  He 
found  the  ex-President  friendly,  cheerful,  and  of  a  dis¬ 
posing  mind.  “Come  in,”  he  said,  “and  take  what  you 
want.”  Then,  selecting  a  large  volume,  gorgeously 
bound  in  red  leather  and  inscribed  in  gold,  he  remarked, 
“This  is  the  Bible  in  the  language  of  Borneo.  I  seldom 
read  it.  Could  the  Library  make  use  of  that?” 

The  transfers  made,  the  remaining  volumes  arranged 
according  to  his  fancy,  and  the  furniture  adjusted  to  his 
taste,  he  began  summoning  the  elect.  To  Dean  West  he 
wrote  on  March  23rd,  “Unless  I  see  you  within  a  very 
brief  period,  I  shall  pull  up  stakes  and  clear  out.”  To 
Commodore  Benedict,  “I  want  to  play  cribbage  with  you. 
We  are  settled  enough  to  make  you  comfortable  and  I 
suppose  I  might  lend  you  a  nightshirt  again ,  though  it 
would  probably  be  better  for  you  to  bring  one.”  To 
Evans  and  Gilder,  L.  Clarke  Davis  and  Dan  Lamont, 
Joe  Jefferson  and  the  rest,  he  sent  invitations  expressed  in 
terms  of  the  kind  of  intimacy  which  he  had  with  each. 
Into  his  letters  there  had  crept  again  the  spirit  of  banter 
which  they  had  lacked  of  late.  After  the  Commodore’s 
visit  he  wrote:  “I  discovered  after  you  left  ...  a  perfect 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


258 

wealth  of  fine  cigars  which  you  brought.  I  don’t  think 
you  can  afford  that  on  $2  winnings.” 

Mr.  Cleveland  intended  to  make  his  “at  homes”  dis¬ 
tinctly  exclusive  affairs,  open  only  to  the  elect,  among 
whom  he  included  none  of  those  priests  of  the  limelight — 
newspaper  reporters.  To  one  of  the  latter  who  eagerly 
pleaded  for  an  interview,  on  the  ground  that  “a  vast  num¬ 
ber  of  people  are  interested  in  knowing  what  you  do,”  he 
replied,  “Well,  we’ll  see  how  they  get  on  without  know¬ 
ing.”  He  had  no  interest  in  headlines  with  his  name  as 
the  central  theme.  What  he  wanted  was  the  privilege 
of  living  his  life  as  other  men  live  theirs,  the  privilege  of 
privacy  so  long  and  at  times  so  insolently  denied  him, 
and  above  all  the  privilege  of  selecting  his  own  com¬ 
panions,  and  of  meeting  them  upon  a  basis  of  personal 
relations  only.  Long  years  of  officialdom  had  made  these 
things  loom  large  among  the  rights  of  man. 

In  dress  he  chose  to  be  informal.  A  brown  slouch 
hat,  loose  clothes,  not  too  fresh  from  the  shop,  and  wide, 
comfortable  shoes  added  greatly  to  his  new-born  sense 
of  freedom.  He  studiously  avoided  everything  calcu¬ 
lated  to  make  him  resemble  the  traditional  political 
magnet,  supremely  content  to  be  what  Andrew  Jackson 
once  declared  Sam  Houston:  “A  man  made  by  God  and  ^ 
not  by  a  tailor.” 

His  manner  of  receiving  such  visitors  as  he  chose  to 
see  was  bluff,  hearty,  sincere,  and  surprisingly  informal; 
but  his  natural  dignity  and  self-restraint  served  to  protect 
him  from  undue  familiarity,  and  he  never  lost  the  con¬ 
sciousness  of  what  was  due  to  the  office  which  he  had 
occupied. 

Over  all,  however,  and  not  to  be  shaken  off,  was  the 
disturbing  feeling  that  he  had  lost  the  love  and  confidence 
of  the  American  people.  It  crept,  unbidden,  into  his 


RETIRES  TO  PRINCETON 


259 

conversations,  and  stood  out  in  clear  relief  in  his  intimate 
letters.  Upon  one  occasion  when  Jesse  Lynch  Williams 
was  calling  at  “Westland,”  his  fine  setter  dog,  excluded 
at  the  door,  searched  for  and  found  another  entrance. 
When  he  trotted  triumphant  into  the  drawing-room  and 
laid  his  cold  muzzle  on  the  ex-President’s  hand,  his 
owner  rose  to  expel  him.  “No,  let  him  stay,”  remarked 
Mr.  Cleveland.  “He  at  least  likes  me.” 

When  asked  why  he  did  not  use  his  leisure  in  the 
preparation  of  an  autobiography,  Mr.  Cleveland  an¬ 
swered  :  “There  is  no  reason  for  my  writing  my  autobiog¬ 
raphy.  My  official  acts  and  public  career  are  public 
property.  There  is  nothing  to  say  about  them.  What  I 
did  is  done  and  history  must  judge  of  its  value,  not  I. 
My  private  life  has  been  so  commonplace  that  there  is 
nothing  to  write  about.”  This  idea  he  emphasized  more 
strongly  one  evening  when  Dean  West  interrupted  a  shot 
at  billiards  to  urge  “at  least  a  brief,  dictated  personal 
memorandum.”  “I  tell  you,  I  won’t  do  it,”  replied  Mr. 
Cleveland,  “and  I’ll  tell  you  why.  The  moment  I  began, 

the  newspapers  would  cry:  ‘There  goes  the  old  fool 

•  ) )) 
again. 

With  freedom  from  conflict,  there  came  more  fully 
to  light  the  gentler  qualities  of  his  nature,  among  which 
was  his  tender  sympathy  with  children.  One  St.  Valen¬ 
tine’s  Day  his  little  daughters  came  home  from  school 
with  excited  stories  of  the  giving  out  of  valentines  to  the 
classes.  “Isn’t  it  a  shame,”  remarked  one,  “that  Jean  was 
the  only  child  who  did  not  get  a  valentine?”  Mrs.  Cleve¬ 
land  glanced  at  her  husband  and  to  her  surprise  saw  the 
tears  coursing  down  his  cheeks.  He  could  not  stand  the 
thought  of  the  disappointment  of  the  little  girl  who  had 
been  inadvertently  overlooked,  and  at  once  a  messenger 
was  dispatched  to  carry  her  a  valentine  from  Grover 


260 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Cleveland.  Nor  could  he  bear  to  attend  the  Christmas 
tree  celebrations  held  each  year  in  the  Princeton  church 
which  he  attended,  because  the  voices  of  the  children 
singing  Christmas  carols  always  brought  the  tears  to  his 
eyes. 

He  passed  his  days  in  reading,  planning  additions  and 
changes  in  his  new  house,  and  always,  when  opportunity 
offered,  in  fishing.  The  diaries  which  he  kept  during  his 
later  years  are  fuller  of  fishing  entries  than  of  all  others 
combined,  and  his  personal  letters  show  an  almost  equal 
interest  in  duck  hunting.  “I  am  more  deeply  interested 
in  the  plans  for  preserving  the  fish  and  game  of  this  com¬ 
munity,”  he  remarked  to  a  friend,  “than  I  ever  was  in 
being  President  of  the  United  States.”  When  such  sports 
were  out  of  season,  cribbage  supplied  the  want.  The 
stakes  were  “shiners,”  new  dimes  which  changed  hands 
without  material  alteration  in  the  relative  financial  posi¬ 
tions  of  the  contestants.  The  Benedict  collection  of 
Cleveland  letters  is  liberally  supplied  with  these  trophies, 
which  the  Commodore  never  thought  worth  while  to  re¬ 
move.  The  challenges  sent  by  Mr.  Cleveland  were  of 
varied  form,  but  always  measurably  insulting  to  the 
Commodore’s  pride  of  conflict: 

Commodore : 

I’ve  got  ten  more  shiners.  If  you  will  come  up 
to-night  and  can  win  them,  you  can  put  them  in  the  con¬ 
tribution  box  to-morrow.  G.  C. 

My  dear  Commodore: 

I  was  glad  to  hear  that  you  had  received  and  squan¬ 
dered  the  ten  dollars  I  sent  you  and  that  you  had  returned 
to  sobriety  and  decency.  ...  As  far  as  cribbage  is  con¬ 
cerned,  I  am  prepared  for  the  fray  and  think  I  have  some 
new  dodges.  G.  C. 


RETIRES  TO  PRINCETON 


261 

Upon  one  occasion,  in  the  practice  of  these  new 
dodges,  Mr.  Cleveland  won  the  Commodore’s  yacht,  the 
Oneida ,  and,  although  this  departure  from  the  established 
policy  of  shiners  was  entirely  fictitious,  from  that  day 
Mr.  Cleveland  became  “the  Admiral”  when  the  “Poverty 
Club”  was  in  action.  In  one  letter  to  “the  Commodore,” 
“the  Admiral”  declared:  “You  may  be  sure,  my  dear 
Commodore,  that  I  shall  not  acquire  the  habit  of  aban¬ 
doning  old  companionships,  and  means  of  transporta¬ 
tion,  in  my  journeys  homeward  from  Gray  Gables.  I 
like  them  both  too  well.”  And  suddenly  remembering 
that  he  was  “Admiral,”  he  added:  “Besides,  the  owner  of 
a  yacht  that  pays  for  other  travel  is,  as  you  often  say,  like 
the  man  who  keeps  a  cow  and  buys  milk.” 

The  students’  sports  furnished  a  never-failing  source 
of  interest  and  at  important  games  seats  were  always 
reserved  for  the  ex-President  and  Mrs.  Cleveland.  It 
was  not  unusual  at  one  of  these  games  to  hear  a  com¬ 
motion  in  the  grand  stand,  accompanied  by  good-natured 
boos  and  cat-calls,  and  if  a  stranger  inquired  the  cause 
of  the  trouble  his  student  neighbor  would  reply  laconi¬ 
cally:  “Some  guy  got  into  Grover’s  seat.” 

The  manner  of  his  life  had  thus  completely  changed, 
but  his  attitude  toward  Bryanism  never  altered,  though 
his  enthusiasm  for  McKinley  cooled  rapidly.  A  few 
weeks  after  his  arrival  in  Princeton,  he  wrote  to  Mr. 
Olney:  “I  have  been  a  little  amused  at  the  cackling  over 
eggs  that  were  substantially  in  the  nest  before  we  left  the 
scene,  like  the  release  of  Americans  in  Cuba,  etc.,  but  have 
been  on  the  whole  much  gratified  by  the  apparent  con¬ 
viction  among  the  people,  that  the  new  administration 
after  all  could  find  but  little  to  amend.  You  know  what 
I  hope  will  be  the  result  of  the  Senate’s  tomfoolery  in  the 
arbitration  treaty  business.  I  am  satisfied  I  can  indulge 


262 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


in  the  hope  I  have  expressed  to  you  without  the  least 
unpatriotic  feeling,  and  I  do  want  this  Senate  to  get  the 
hot  end  of  the  poker  as  long  as  present  influences  con¬ 
trol  it.” 

A  week  later  he  added:  “Of  course  you  and  I  are  too 
patriotic  to  gloat  over  the  condition  and  you  no  doubt 
feel  as  much  humiliated  as  I  do  by  the  silly  exhibition 
our  government  is  making  in  its  conduct  of  foreign 
affairs.  I  am  willing,  however,  to  confess  to  enough  of 
the  ‘old  Adam’  to  feel  a  little  bit  of  satisfaction  in  a  situa¬ 
tion  that  crowds  this  bitter  dose  down  the  throats  of  the 
dirty  liars  who  attempted  so  hard  to  decry  and  depreciate 
your  dignified,  decent,  and  proper  management  of  our 
foreign  relations.  The  present  administration  must  soon 
find  that  the  Executive  Department  cannot  drift  through 
public  duty  on  the  wave  of  public  applause  and  adulation 
and  that  the  day  comes  when  popular  tickling  and  hum¬ 
bug  will  not  do.” 

“The  Dingley  bill,”  he  wrote  later,  “has  not  done  any¬ 
thing  for  me  yet,  and  therefore  I  am  still  ‘agin  it.’  ”  In¬ 
deed,  he  gradually  grew  almost  as  much  ‘agin  the 
Government’  as  ‘agin’  the  leaders  of  the  Democratic 
organization,  which  now  composed  the  opposition.  In 
replying  to  an  invitation  from  Mr.  Fairchild  to  speak 
at  a  dinner  of  the  Reform  Club,  he  wrote : 

Westland,  Princeton,  N.J. 
April  2 ,  1897 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Fairchild: 

Yours  of  March  30th  is  received.  I  am  perfectly 
willing  to  say  something  at  the  dinner  on  the  24th  if  I 
can  do  any  good  in  that  way.  .  .  .  But  to  tell  you  the 
truth  I  am  going  to  find  it  difficult,  I  am  afraid,  to  be 
prudent  and  say  just  what  I  would  like  to  say.  I  am  very 


RETIRES  TO  PRINCETON 


263 

much  disgusted  with  the  silver  Democratic  leaders  and 
am  not  inclined  to  credit  them  with  sincerity  or  convic¬ 
tions.  I  am  near  the  point  of  believing  them  to  be  con¬ 
spirators  and  traitors  and,  in  their  relations  with  the 
honest  masses,  as  confidence  sharks  and  swindlers. 

I  don’t  suppose  that  the  diners  will  all  be  Democrats 
and  so  a  man  can’t  cuss  both  parties  as  at  present  con¬ 
trolled,  and  yet  it  is  not  perfectly  easy  to  see  how  a  Demo¬ 
crat  can  condemn  his  party  organization  and  steer  clear 
of  being  struck  in  the  face  with  the  suggestion  that  the 
way  out  is  to  act  with  the  Republican  party.  But  we  will 
have  to  get  along  with  it  somehow. 

Yours  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Chas.  S.  Fairchild, 

New  York  City. 

When  the  hour  arrived,  however,  he  did  “cuss  both 
parties,”  unhesitatingly  proclaiming  his  friends  “the  true 
Democracy,”  and  denouncing  his  enemies,  whether  Re¬ 
publicans  or  Democrats,  as  unprofitable  servants.  He 
described  the  Bryan  organization  as  “born  of  sordid  greed 
and  maintained  by  selfish  interest  and  partisan  ambition,” 
spending  its  energies  in  “inflaming  those  inclined  to 
be  patient  with  tales  of  an  ancient  crime  against  their 
rights,  to  be  avenged  by  encouraging  the  restless  and 
turbulent  with  hints  of  greater  license,  and  by  offering 
to  the  poor  as  a  smooth  road  to  wealth,  and  to  those  in 
debt  as  a  plan  for  easy  payment,  and  to  those  who  from 
any  cause  are  unfortunate  and  discouraged  as  a  remedy 
for  all  their  ills  .  .  .  cheap  money.”  “It  was  a  rude 
awakening  .  .  .  when  the  bold  promoters  of  this  reckless 
crusade  captured  the  organization  of  a  powerful  political 
party,  and,  seizing  its  banners,  shouted  defiance  to  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


264 

astonished  conscience  and  conservatism  of  the  country. 
Hosts  of  honest  men,  in  blind  loyalty,  gathered  behind  the 
party  flag  they  had  been  accustomed  to  follow,  failing  to 
discover  that  their  party  legends  had  been  effaced.”  “Let 
us  .  .  .  break  through  the  influence  of  the  mischievous 
leadership,”  he  declared.  “Let  true  Democrats  meet  the 
passion  and  bitterness  of  their  former  associates  who  have 
assumed  the  leadership  of  anti-Democratic  wanderings, 
with  firm  expostulations,  reminding  them  that  Demo¬ 
cratic  convictions  and  Democratic  conscience  cannot  be 
forced  to  follow  false  lights,  however  held  aloft.” 

His  appeal  was  for  a  return  to  “true  Democracy,  a 
party  of  noble  origin  and  traditions,  identified  with  the 
counsels  of  the  nation  from  its  earliest  days,  and  whose 
glorious  achievements  are  written  on  every  page  of  our 
country’s  history.  Always  the  people’s  friend,  seeking 
to  lighten  their  burdens  and  protect  their  rights,  true 
Democracy  has  constantly  taught  conservatism,  American 
fraternity,  and  obedience  to  law.  ...  It  enjoins  the 
utmost  personal  liberty  consistent  with  peace  and  order. 
It  defends  the  humble  toiler  against  oppressive  exactions 
in  his  home,  and  invites  him  to  the  fullest  enjoyment  of 
the  fruits  of  industry,  economy,  and  thrift.  .  .  .  True 
Democracy  declares  that  .  .  .  there  is  a  limit  beyond 
which  the  legitimate  results  and  accumulations  of  effort 
and  enterprise  should  be  denounced  as  intrinsically 
^criminal.  .  .  .  Above  all  things,  true  Democracy  insists 
jthat  the  money  of  the  people  should  be  sound  and  stable, 
neither  shriveling  in  purchasing  power  in  the  hands  of 
the  poor,  nor  by  its  uncertain  value  driving  enterprise 
and  productive  energy  into  hiding.” 
i  Nor  did  he  spare  those  who  in  obedience  to  their 
fetish,  party  loyalty,  had  turned  from  the  light  to  follow 
'after  darkness:  “They  are  willfully  wicked  and  stupid 


RETIRES  TO  PRINCETON 


265 

who  believe  that  disaster  waits  upon  the  ascendancy  of 
those  forces,  and  yet  turn  away  from  the  plain  evidence 
of  their  dangerous  strength.”  Defiantly,  passionately,  he 
repudiated  “adherence  to  a  party  organization  merely 
for  the  purpose  of  compassing  governmental  control,” 
and  declared  that  the  only  partisanship  which  could  com¬ 
mand  his  allegiance  was  “the  support  of  certain  principles 
and  theories  of  government,  and  a  co-operation  and  asso¬ 
ciation  in  political  effort  and  activity  with  others  who 
believe  in  the  same  theories  and  principles.”  “It  is  an 
impeachment  of  the  intelligence  of  the  members  of  any 
political  association  to  say  that  party  management  and 
discipline  should  at  all  times  command  implicit  obedi¬ 
ence,  even  when  such  obedience  leads  to  the  abandon¬ 
ment  or  radical  perversion  of  party  principles.” 

He  scored  the  Republicans  as  men  who,  placed  in 
power  by  splendid  Democratic  patriotism,  had  “returned 
in  hot  haste  to  their  wallowing  in  the  mire  of  extreme 
protection,  offending  millions  of  voters  by  their  exhibition 
of  a  party’s  bad  faith,  and  disgusting  millions  more  by 
their  unconcealed  determination  to  repay  partisan 
support  from  the  proceeds  of  increased  burdens  of  taxa¬ 
tion  placed  upon  those  already  overladen.” 

Upon  his  return  to  Princeton,  Mr.  Cleveland  received 
an  intimation  that  the  honorary  degree  which  he  had 
declined  as  President  was  awaiting  him  as  a  private 
citizen,  and  having  accepted  the  offer,  he  turned  his  mind 
to  the  pressing  problem  of  his  academic  costume.  On 
June  nth,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Gilder,  in  high  glee: 

“My  gown  and  cap  came  to-day,  and  my  wife  says  I 
look  very  fine  in  them.  I  suppose  your  wife  gave  you  a 
like  assurance.  I  shall  look  for  you  Wednesday  morn¬ 
ing  and  I  mean  to  ask  Professor  West  to-morrow  if  you 


266 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


won’t  be  obliged  to  wear  your  toggery  too.  The  fox  that 
lost  his  tail  tried  to  make  all  the  other  foxes  believe  that 
short  tails  were  the  fashion.” 

In  similar  vein,  he  wrote  to  Olney  after  the  event: 
“You  needn’t  put  on  any  airs  because  you  are  settled  on 
Cape  Cod.  I’ll  open  up  there  myself  in  a  few  days — 
and  I’ve  got  a  degree  that  I’m  going  to  bring  with  me. 
There  may  be  others — I  presume  there  are — but  there 
are  no  rivals  of  my  gown,  hood,  and  cap:  and  the  Latin 
investiture  of  the  degree  was  to  my  certain  knowledge 
faultless.  I  wonder  if  Brad  and  Jim  Jones  ought  not 
to  have  some  sort  of  a  degree,  so  that  you  and  I  might 
feel  a  little  more  at  ease  with  them.” 

His  acknowledgment  to  President  Patton  who  had 
performed  the  Latin  investiture  was  in  different  vein; 
for  as  yet  he  did  not  understand  how  much  his  less  formal 
thoughts  would  have  been  appreciated  by  that  supremely 
humorous  master  of  the  Latin: 

“I  cannot  forbear  the  expression  of  my  profound 
appreciation  of  the  honor  just  conferred  upon  me,  and 
the  assurance  of  my  gratitude  for  the  hearty  welcome 
which  has  greeted  my  admission  to  the  brotherhood  of 
Princeton  University.  As  I  recall  the  commanding  place 
which  Princeton  holds  among  the  universities  of  our  land, 
her  glorious  history,  her  venerable  traditions,  her  bright 
trophies  won  on  the  field  of  higher  education,  and  her 
sacred  relation  to  the  patriotic  achievements  which  made 
us  a  nation,  I  am  proud  of  the  honor  which  has  come 
to  me  through  her  grace  and  favor,  and  as  I  realize  the 
sincere  and  friendly  comradeship  attached  to  this  new 
honor,  I  cannot  keep  out  of  mind  the  feeling  that  an 
additional  tie  has  this  day  been  created  binding  me  with 


RETIRES  TO  PRINCETON  267 

closer  affection  and  deeper  delight  to  the  home  where  I 
hope  to  spend  the  remainder  of  my  days.” 

True  to  his  promise,  he  took  his  degree  to  Buzzards 
Bay  soon  after  Commencement,  and  at  once  became  in¬ 
tent  upon  squeteague,  tautog,  and  the  fighting  blue  fish, 
which  he  insisted  upon  catching  with  a  rod  and  reel, 
contrary  to  the  custom  of  those  who  “do  business  in  great 
waters.”  Automatically,  Brad  and  Jim  Jones,  un¬ 
doctored  but  unashamed,  took  the  place  vacated  by  Dean 
West  and  President  Patton  in  his  daily  scheme  of  social 
intercourse,  and  his  figuring  concerned  itself  with  boats 
instead  of  libraries.  The  language  of  his  letters,  too, 
became  at  times  most  unacademic,  as  valve  trouble 
dimmed  the  consciousness  of  what  was  due  to  his  new 
cap  and  gown. 

“I  am  having  the  devil’s  own  time  with  my  launch,” 
he  wrote  to  the  Commodore.  “I  have  not  had  but  one 
satisfactory  time  with  her  since  I  came  and  that  was  the 
day  after  I  arrived  when  Brad  ran  her.  I  get  so  cursed 
mad  every  time  I  go  out  that  I  almost  swear  I’ll  never 
go  in  her  again.” 

Politics  seemed  a  long  way  off  in  those  gloriously 
damp  and  salty  days,  and  his  letters,  even  to  the  men  who 
had  fought  by  his  side  against  a  varied  foe,  touched  rarely 
upon  public  questions,  save  for  occasional  pointed  thrusts 
called  out  by  passing  incidents.  On  August  1st  he  wrote 
to  Colonel  Lamont:  “As  far  as  I  can  see  the  tendency  at 
present  is  to  enjoy  being  humbugged  by  the  administra¬ 
tion  now  in  power  and  to  forget  or  decry  all  that  was  done 
by  the  last  one.  Of  all  weak,  milksop  things,  it  seems 
to  me  the  Democratic  press  so  far  as  it  comes  under  my 
observation  is  a  prize  winner.”  And  to  Harmon  two  days 
later:  “The  administration  seems  at  present  to  be  so  little 


268 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


in  the  minds  of  the  people  and  its  achievements  appear 
to  be  so  nearly  forgotten  that  I  feel  like  apologizing  to 
all  the  good  and  true  men  who  cast  in  their  lot  with 
it.  .  .  .  It  seems  to  me  that  in  Ohio  better  than  anywhere 
else  the  Bogus  Democracy  has  turned  itself  up  for  a  sound 
spanking.  The  thing  that  strikes  me  with  amazement 
is  the  gullibility  of  Democratic  newspapers  and  men  that 
want  to  be  sound  and  yet  do  not  see  the  mischief  and 
humbug  of  the  Maryland  platform.  When  anything 
straight,  honest  or  truly  democratic  emanates  from  Mr. 
Gorman,  neither  you  nor  I  will  be  there  to  see.”  “I  am 
such  a  political  outcast  these  days,”  he  wrote  to  Don  M. 
Dickinson  on  October  20th,  “that  the  role  of  looker-on 
seems  quite  a  natural  one;  and  yet  I  feel  that  matters  are 
brewing  that  may  bring  decent  men  into  activity  again.” 

On  October  28th,  Mr.  Cleveland’s  first  son  was  born 
at  Westland,  and  at  once  the  Princeton  students,  remem¬ 
bering  their  transparency,  “Grover,  send  your  sons  to 
Princeton,”  formally  adopted  him  by  posting  on  their 
bulletin  board  this  notice :  “Grover  Cleveland,  Jr.,  arrived 
today  at  twelve  o’clock.  Will  enter  Princeton  with  the 
class  of  1919,  and  will  play  center  rush  on  the  champion¬ 
ship  football  teams  of  ’16,  ’17,  ’18  and  ’19.”  A  deluge 
of  congratulations  came  from  all  parts  of  the  land,  and 
from  many  lands,  while  the  press  cried  “politics,”  as 
they  had  done  at  every  great  achievement  of  his  life. 
The  Pittsburgh  Leader  presented  a  picture  of  the  ex- 
President,  dramatically  pointing  his  oratorical  finger  at 
a  tiny  white  bundle  in  an  old-fashioned  cradle,  and 
soliloquizing:  “If  this  doesn’t  mean  a  third  term,  nothing 
does.” 

Mr.  Cleveland’s  own  comments  seem  meant  to  conceal 
the  emotion  which  he  felt  at  the  possession  of  a  son.  To 
Olney  he  wrote:  “I  wish  I  could  write  something  satis- 


RETIRES  TO  PRINCETON  269 

factory  to  the  ladies  of  your  household,  touching  our  new 
boy.  This  I  cannot  do  on  my  own  responsibility,  for  I 
agree  with  you  that  when  they  can  count  but  two  weeks 
as  the  period  of  earthly  experience,  all  babies  are  very 
much  alike,  both  as  regards  their  looks  and  conduct.  As 
sort  of  second-hand  information,  however,  I  venture  to  say 
that  the  female  members  of  our  household  declare  that 
this  particular  child  looks  like  his  father,  that  he  has 
blue  eyes,  a  finely  shaped  head,  and  bids  fair  to  be  a  very 
handsome  and  a  very  distinguished  man.  I  have  no 
doubt  this  is  all  true,  because  a  neighbor  lady  who  was 
to-day  admitted  to  a  private  inspection  of  the  specimen, 
told  me  that  he  was  ‘the  loveliest  thing’  she  ever  saw. 
We  have  named  him  Richard  Folsom — my  father’s  first 
name  and  my  wife’s  father’s  last  name.  Some  good 
friends  thought  we  ought  to  call  him  Grover  Jr.,  but  so 
many  people  have  been  bothered  by  the  name  Grover, 
and  it  has  been  so  knocked  about  that  I  thought  it  ought 
to  have  a  rest.” 

So  far  as  he  himself  was  concerned,  however,  there 
had  already  been  rest  enough,  and  he  began  to  feel  the 
need  of  active  employment.  To  one  friend  who  asked 
how  he  felt  with  no  Senate  to  fight  and  no  weight  of 
official  responsibility  to  bear,  he  replied:  “I  feel  like 
a  locomotive  hitched  to  a  boy’s  express  wagon.”  Three 
years  later,  the  position  of  Stafford  Little  Lecturer  on 
Public  Affairs  was  founded  in  his  honor,  and  he  became 
an  organic  part  of  the  University.  His  duties  consisted 
only  in  the  preparation  of  one  or  two  public  lectures  a 
year,  but  the  task  weighed  heavily  upon  him.  The  honor 
pleased  him;  but  the  work  appalled  him.  For  months 
before  each  address  his  intimate  letters  were  filled  with 
lamentations  and  forebodings  of  evil;  but  he  had  a  rich 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


270 

experience  from  which  to  draw,  and  the  lectures  at  once 
became  intellectual  events  in  the  life  of  Princeton. 

The  final  step  in  his  academic  career  was  his  election 
as  trustee  of  the  University,  and  the  new  duties  thus 
added  to  the  old  he  took  with  equal  seriousness.  “As  a 
trustee  of  Princeton,”  writes  Dr.  Charles  Wood,  “where 
I  sat  at  the  meetings  of  the  Board  directly  opposite  him, 
he  was  a  constant  surprise  to  us  all.  He  was  an  inde¬ 
fatigable  attendant  of  all  meetings,  interested  in  the  Uni¬ 
versity  details  and  speaking  with  the  greatest  simplicity 
and  modesty,  as  if  feeling  that  his  opinion  could  not  be 
of  any  great  value,  though  no  man  in  the  Board  was  more 
convincing.” 

Every  detail  of  University  life,  from  football  to  social 
coordination,  from  entrance  examinations  to  the  standard 
of  the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy,  received  from  his 
trusteeship  as  painstaking  care  as  he  had  formerly  given 
to  currency,  tariff  and  foreign  affairs.  When  the  trustees 
discussed  the  necessity  of  a  social  reorganization  of  the 
institution,  Mr.  Cleveland  drafted  an  elaborate  plan  for 
correcting  the  evils  of  undergraduate  club  life.  And 
when  the  graduate  school  committee  proposed  expansion, 
he  wrote  to  his  friend,  Andrew  Carnegie,  a  letter  de¬ 
signed  to  secure  for  the  project  the  financial  support 
which  he  had  refused  to  accept  for  himself.  These 
things,  together  with  his  family  and  his  friends,  his  rods, 
guns  and  hunting  dogs,  pleasantly  filled  his  life. 


CHAPTER  X 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES 

"Your  every  voter,  as  surely  as  your*  Chief  Magistrate, 
under  the  same  high  sanction,  though  in  a  different  sphere, 
exercises  a  public  trust” 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

ALTHOUGH  out  of  politics,  Mr.  Cleveland  had  not 
lost  his  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  country  and 
from  his  home  in  Princeton  he  watched  the  passing  show, 
sometimes  with  approval — often  with  dismay.  By  the 
ist  of  December,  1897,  it  was  apparent  that  a  crisis  was 
at  hand  in  Cuba.  Spain  had  continued  her  cruelties,  and 
the  following  January,  in  response  to  appeals  from 
General  Fitzhugh  Lee,  American  vessels  of  war  were 
ordered  to  occupy  vantage  points,  to  be  ready  should 
action  become  necessary. 

The  North  Atlantic  squadron  took  up  its  vigil  at  the 
Dry  Tortugas  within  six  hours  of  the  Cuban  shores. 
Captain  Sampson,  with  a  squadron  of  battleships  and 
cruisers,  sailed  for  Key  West,  and  on  the  25th  the  Spanish 
Government  was  notified  that  the  second-class  battleship, 
Maine ,  had  been  ordered  on  a  friendly  visit  to  Havana. 
Thus  the  stage  was  set  for  the  tragedy  of  February  15, 
1898,  when  the  Maine  was  wrecked  by  an  explosion,  with 
the  loss  of  two  officers  and  264  enlisted  men. 

Even  this  disaster,  which  was  interpreted  by  many  as 
a  deliberate  act  of  war  on  the  part  of  Spain,  did  not 
alter  Mr.  Cleveland’s  opinion  that  “it  would  be  an  out¬ 
rage  to  declare  war.”  “If  the  President’s  backbone  holds 

271 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


272 

out,”  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Olney  the  next  day,  “our  Cuban 
policy  will,  I  believe,  be  fully  justified.”  He  was  far 
from  being  a  pacifist,  but  he  was  a  firm  believer  in  the 
doctrine  that  nations  should  mind  their  own  business,  and 
he  did  not  consider  the  Cuban  situation  our  affair.  He 
deeply  resented  the  use  made  of  the  Maine  disaster  by 
the  press,  and  freely  expressed  this  resentment.  On 
February  28th  he  telegraphed  to  William  Randolph 
Hearst: 

Feb .  28,  1898 . 

To  W.  R.  Hearst, 

N.  Y.  Journal ' ,  New  York. 

I  decline  to  allow  my  sorrow  for  those  who  died  on 
the  Maine  to  be  perverted  to  an  advertising  scheme  for 
the  New  York  Journal. 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Week  by  week  he  sought  to  keep  his  faith  in  the 
ultimate  success  of  the  policy  of  ‘hands  off.’  “Notwith¬ 
standing  warlike  indications,”  he  wrote  to  Olney  on 
March  27th,  “I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  belief  that  war 
will  be  averted.  There  will  be  infinitely  more  credit  and 
political  capital  in  avoiding  war  when  so  imminent  than 
to  carry  it  on  even  well.  And  then  there  is  Spain’s  con¬ 
dition  and  the  reflection  that  may  come  to  her  that  ‘the 
game  is  not  worth  the  candle.’  ”  And  to  Commodore 
Benedict  he  declared:  “I  wish  the  President  would  stand 
fast  and  persist  in  following  the  lead  of  his  own  good 
sense  and  conscience,  but  I  am  afraid  he  intends  to  defer 
and  yield  to  Congress.  I  cannot  yet  make  myself  believe 
there  will  be  war.  If  there  is  and  it  is  based  upon  present 
conditions,  the  time  will  not  be  long  before  there  will  be 
an  earnest  and  not  altogether  successful  search  by  our 
people  for  a  justification.” 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  273 

A  few  days  later  the  ambassadors  of  six  European 
countries  ventured  to  intimate  the  same  opinion  in  a  note 
to  President  McKinley,  expressing  the  hope  that  he 
would  avoid  war  for  humanity’s  sake.  Mr.  McKinley’s 
reply,  that  if  war  came  it  would  be  a  war  for  humanity’s 
sake,  sounded  to  the  ears  of  these  diplomats  like  cant  and 
hypocrisy.  And  when,  on  April  25th,  Congress,  by 
unanimous  consent  of  both  houses,  with  the  approval  of 
President  McKinley  and  the  vast  majority  of  the  Ameri¬ 
can  people,  declared  war  and  pledged  the  nation  to  the 
altruistic  policy  of  giving  Cuba  back  to  her  own  people, 
the  Continent’s  sarcastic  comment  was  that  this  was  a 
gesture  planned  to  prevent  European  interference  with 
a  scheme  to  annex  Cuba.  England,  on  the  other  hand, 
took  the  part  of  the  United  States.  When  news  of  the 
declaration  of  war  reached  London,  crowds  of  English¬ 
men  went  to  the  American  Embassy  and  cheered,  and  the 
Stars  and  Stripes  were  displayed  in  every  part  of  the  city. 
There  had  been  talk  of  foreign  intervention  to  stop  the 
war,  but  at  this  attitude  of  England  it  quickly  died  down. 

Mr.  Cleveland’s  view,  however,  was  not  changed, 
although  he  felt,  as  he  wrote  to  Commodore  Benedict, 
that:  “We,  the  people,  have  but  one  thing  to  do  when  the 
storm  is  upon  us  and  that  is  to  stand  by  the  action  of  our 
government.” 

“With  all  allowances  I  can  make  .  .  .  ,”  he  wrote  to 
Olney,  “I  cannot  avoid  a  feeling  of  shame  and  humilia¬ 
tion.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  the  same  old  story  of  good 
intentions  and  motives  sacrificed  to  false  considerations 
of  complaisance  and  party  harmony.  McKinley  is  not 
a  victim  of  ignorance,  but  of  amiable  weakness  not  un¬ 
mixed  with  political  ambition.  He  knew,  or  ought  to 
have  known,  the  cussedness  of  the  Senate  and  he  was 
abundantly  warned  against  Lee,  and  yet  he  has  sur- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


274 

rendered  to  the  former  and  given  his  confidence  to  the 
latter.  The  Senate  would  not  hesitate  to  leave  him  in  the 
lurch,  and  Lee  will  strut  and  swagger,  I  suppose,  as  a 
Major  General  and  the  idol  of  the  populace.  Roosevelt, 
too,  will  have  his  share  of  strut  and  sensation,  and  Miles 
will  be  commissioned  General  of  the  army.  In  the  mean¬ 
time,  we  who  have  undertaken  war  in  the  interest  of 
humanity  and  civilization,  will  find  ourselves  in  alliance 
and  co-operation  with  Cuban  insurgents — the  most  in¬ 
human  and  barbarous  cutthroats  in  the  world.  I  suppose 
the  outrages  to  which  we  shall  then  be  privy,  and  the 
starvation  and  suffering  abetted  by  our  interference  will 
be  mildly  called  the  ‘incidents  of  the  war.’ 

“My  only  relief  from  the  sick  feeling  which  these 
thoughts  induce  consists  in  the  reflection  that  it  affects 
no  one  but  myself,  and  in  the  hope,  almost  amounting  to 
expectation,  that  we  shall  find  Spain  so  weak  and  ineffi¬ 
cient  that  the  war  will  be  short  and  that  the  result  may 
not  be  much  worse  than  a  depreciation  of  national  stand¬ 
ing  before  the  world  abroad,  and  at  home,  demoralization 
of  our  people’s  character,  much  demagogy  and  humbug, 
great  additions  to  our  public  burdens,  and  the  exposure 
of  scandalous  operations.” 

On  June  21st,  in  the  height  of  the  war  spirit,  Mr. 
Cleveland  delivered  the  Commencement  address  at 
Lawrenceville,  choosing  as  his  subject  “Good  Citizen¬ 
ship,”  and  in  ringing  sentences  denouncing,  not  the  war, 
but  the  spirit  of  imperialism  which  he  feared  would 
follow  war : 

“Never  before  in  our  history  have  we  been  beset  with 
temptations  so  dangerous  as  those  which  now  whisper  in 
our  ears  alluring  words  of  conquest  and  expansion,  and 
point  out  to  us  fields  bright  with  the  glory  of  war.  .  .  . 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  275 

Our  government  was  formed  for  the  express  purpose  of 
creating  in  a  new  world  a  new  nation,  the  foundation  of 
which  should  be  man’s  self-government,  whose  safety 
and  prosperity  should  be  secure  in  its  absolute  freedom 
from  Old  World  complications  and  its  renunciation  of 
all  schemes  of  foreign  conquest.  .  .  . 

“If  you  believe  these  things,  do  not  permit  any  accusa¬ 
tion  ...  to  trouble  you.  If  .  .  .  the  suggestion  is  made 
that  the  time  has  come  for  our  nation  to  abandon  its  old 
landmarks  and  to  follow  the  lights  of  monarchical  haz¬ 
ards,  and  that  we  should  attempt  to  employ  the  simple 
machinery  of  our  popular  and  domestic  government  to 
serve  the  schemes  of  imperialism,  your  challenge  of  the 
proposition  is  entirely  in  order.  If  you  are  satisfied  that 
foreign  conquest  and  unnatural  extension  or  annexation 
are  dangerous  perversions  of  our  national  mission  .  .  . 
you  will  not  necessarily  be  wrong.  .  .  . 

“It  is  difficult  to  deal  with  the  question  of  war  at  this 
time  and  avoid  misconception  and  misrepresentation. 
But  we  are  considering  American  citizenship,  and  en¬ 
deavoring  to  find  its  best  characteristics,  and  how  they 
can  be  most  effectively  cultivated  and  securely  preserved. 
From  this  standpoint,  war  is  a  hateful  thing,  which  we 
should  shun  and  avoid  as  antagonistic  to  the  objects  of 
our  national  existence,  as  threatening  demoralization  of 
our  national  character  and  as  obstructive  to  our  national 
destiny.  ...  If  you  believe  this,  you  should  stand 
bravely  for  your  belief,  even  though  a  shower  of  stupid 
calls  should  fill  the  air.” 

As  the  problems  of  a  short  war  merged  into  those  of 
a  victorious  peace,  he  became  more  and  more  fearful  that 
the  United  States  had  entered  upon  an  era  of  conquest 
which  would  surely  enroll  her  among  the  imperialistic 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


276 

nations.  Among  his  papers  is  a  faded  manuscript,  in  his 
own  hand,  evidently  written  as  his  anti-imperialistic 
creed : 

“We  believe  that  the  spirit  of  our  free  institutions, 
the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  Constitution,  and  the 
interest  and  welfare  of  our  people  forbid  either  the  abso¬ 
lute  and  permanent  control  of  the  Philippine  Islands  as 
colonies  or  dependencies,  or  their  admission  to  the  family 
of  states;  and  we  insist  that  a  consistent  adherence  to  the 
American  idea  of  freedom  and  liberty,  an  honest  and  sin¬ 
cere  belief  that  the  consent  of  the  governed  is  essential 
to  just  government,  and  a  scrupulous  and  American  re¬ 
gard  for  the  obligations  of  good  faith,  demand  that  an 
occupation  and  control  of  these  Islands  shall  only  be  for 
the  purpose  of  leading  their  inhabitants  to  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  their  own  government;  that  these  inhabitants 
shall  be  at  once  reassured  and  pacified  by  an  immediate 
declaration  of  such  purpose,  and  that  when  with  our 
friendly  aid  such  purpose  is  accomplished,  our  control 
and  occupation  by  force  in  the  Isles  shall  cease — save 
only  so  far  as  they  may  be  desired  or  be  necessary  for 
the  maintenance  of  peace  and  order  under  the  new  gov¬ 
ernment.” 

In  this  opinion  he  had  the  full  sympathy  of  Mr. 
Bryan  who,  though  he  raised  the  3rd  Regiment  of  the 
Nebraska  Volunteer  Infantry  for  the  war  and  became  its 
Colonel,  was  as  suspicious  as  was  the  ex-President  of  the 
aims  of  the  McKinley  administration,  and  as  eager  to 
lead  a  crusade  against  imperialism.  Truly  peace  prob¬ 
lems  no  less  than  politics  make  strange  bedfellows,  but 
Mr.  Cleveland  had  no  desire  to  make  room  for  Mr. 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  277 

Bryan,  feeling,  not  without  reason,  that  he  was  large 
enough  to  occupy  the  bed  alone. 

In  letter  after  letter  he  poured  out  his  distressed  con¬ 
sciousness  of  his  own  unpopularity,  his  disapproval  of 
the  conduct  of  affairs  under  Republican  administration, 
and  his  anxiety  over  the  “prevailing  American  madness” : 

Westland,  Princeton,  N.  J. 
Jan .  12 }  1899. 

My  dear  Mr.  Shepard: 

.  .  .  With  a  full  realization  of  the  fact  that  my  rela¬ 
tions  with  Mr.  Bayard  and  my  love  for  him  should 
constrain  me  to  join  with  enthusiasm  in  any  movement 
to  honor  his  memory,  I  have  determined  to  decline  par¬ 
ticipation  in  the  meeting  suggested.  I  cannot  detail  all 
my  reasons  for  this  conclusion;  and  I  hope  my  justification 
does  not  require  it. 

I  will  say,  however,  that  I  have  been  controllingly 
influenced  by  a  clear  negative  conviction  on  the  following 
proposition  contained  in  your  letter  to  me:  “Whether 
amid  all  the  present  din  and  noise,  a  worthy  presentation 
of  Mr.  Bayard’s  career  and  services  can  be  fittingly 
heard,  is  possibly  open  to  doubt.” 

Unpleasant  suggestions  of  “pearls”  and  “swine”  will 
obtrude  themselves. 

My  pride  and  self-conceit  have  had  a  terrible  fall.  I 
thought  I  understood  the  American  people. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Edward  M.  Shepard,  Esq. 

New  York. 

“I  am  not  the  sort  of  man  people  want  to  hear  these 
days,”  he  wrote  to  Harmon.  “My  beliefs  and  opinions 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


278 

are  unsuited  to  the  times.  No  word  that  I  could  speak 
would  do  the  least  good  and  the  announcement  that  I  was 
to  address  my  fellow  countrymen  on  any  subject  what¬ 
ever  would  be  the  signal  for  coarse  abuse  and  ridicule. 
I  am  content  in  my  retirement  and  am  far  from  com¬ 
plaining  of  my  elimination  from  public  thought  or 
notice;  but  I  cannot  see  that  I  ought  to  uselessly  give  an 
opportunity  to  those  who  delight  in  misrepresenting  and 
maligning  me. 

“You  know  me  too  well  to  imagine  that  such  a  con¬ 
sideration  would  have  a  feather’s  weight  with  me  if  over 
against  it  there  was  the  slightest  possibility  of  my  being 
of  service  to  the  country  in  these  perilous  days.  Indeed 
I  would  gladly  do  such  service.  The  time  may  come 
when  I  can  see  such  an  opportunity,  but  I  cannot  now; 
and  it  may  be  that  this  opportunity  will  more  surely  come 
to  me,  if  I  am  silent  now.” 

To  Dr.  Ward  he  declared:  “Those  who  delight  in  my 
elimination  from  popular  thought  and  consideration  have 
no  need  to  struggle  with  a  resisting  victim.  I  go  most 
willingly.  The  delights  of  life  are  way  back  of  incidents 
or  days  related  to  political  devotion  or  hate;  and  of  these 
I  cannot  be  robbed.” 

“Did  you  ever  ‘in  all  your  born  days,’  ”  he  inquired 
of  Olney,  “see  such  goings  on  as  have  been  exhibited  at 
Washington  during  the  past  year?  I  am  in  a  constant 
state  of  wonderment,  when  I  am  not  in  a  state  of  nausea. 
Sometimes  I  feel  like  saying  ‘it’s  none  of  my  business,’ 
but  that’s  pretty  hard  for  me  to  do,  though  it  would  be 
comfortable  if  I  could  settle  down  to  that  condition. 

“The  Democratic  party,  if  it  was  in  only  tolerable 
condition,  could  win  an  easy  victory  next  year;  but  I  am 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  279 

afraid  it  will  never  be  in  winning  condition  until  we  have 
had  a  regular  knockout  fight  among  ourselves,  and  suc¬ 
ceed  in  putting  the  organization  in  Democratic  hands 
and  reviving  Democratic  principles  in  our  platform.  I 
don’t  think  the  kind  of  ‘harmony’  we  hear  so  much  of 
will  bridge  over  our  difficulties,  and  I  don’t  believe  our 
people,  notwithstanding  the  disgust  thefc  administration  is 
breeding,  are  ready  to  accept  Bryan  and  the  Chicago  plat¬ 
form;  and  if  they  are,  what  comfort  is  there  in  that  for 
decent,  sound  Democrats? 

“One  thing  I  regard  as  absolutely  certain:  If  the 
plans  of  those  now  in  charge  of  our  party  management 
are  not  interrupted,  the  dishes  served  up  to  us  will  be 
Bryan  and  the  Chicago  platform.  To  suppose  anything 
else  will  occur  in  the  contingency  suggested,  is  to  ignore 
every  indication  in  the  political  sky.”  Then,  with  an 
effort  to  turn  his  mind  to  happier  themes,  he  added: 
“Other  questions,  however,  of  utmost  importance  con¬ 
front  us.  Bryan  is  alive  and  his  followers  active,  numer¬ 
ous,  and  determined;  but  is  Jim  Jones  alive,  and  are  the 
bass  in  Long  Pond  numerous,  and  will  they  in  due  time 
prove  active  and  determined?” 

Mr.  Olney  replied  in  the  same  vein : 

Boston,  22  March ,  1899. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cleveland : 

I  have  your  last  favor — to  receive  which  is  a  pleasure 
of  itself,  while,  as  always,  I  find  the  contents  full  of  in¬ 
terest.  It  was  high  time,  I  have  long  been  thinking,  that 
communication  between  us  was  restored,  and  as  one  or 
the  other  of  us  had  to  begin,  I  am  greatly  obliged  to  you 
for  not  waiting  for  the  other  feller. 

I  think  my  surprise — not  to  say  consternation — at  the 


280 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


performances  in  Washington  equals  your  own.  While 
believing  the  policy  of  the  government  in  its  foreign  rela¬ 
tions  might  well  be  liberalized  and  broadened,  and  cer¬ 
tainly  should  not  be  hampered  by  rules  not  made  for 
present  conditions,  I  have  never  been  able  to  understand 
why  McKinley  wanted  to  rush  upon  problems  so 
momentous  and  why  he  should  conceive  it  to  be  either 
the  interest  or  the  duty  of  the  United  States  to  undertake 
the  thankless  and  enormously  expensive  task  of  civilizing 
and  Christianizing  some  seven  or  eight  millions  of 
Malays.  I  have  been  told  on  good  authority — and  I  have 
seen  some  evidence — that  the  Methodists  of  the  land 
labored  with  him  in  the  line  of  the  policy  to  which  he 
seems  to  be  inclined — although  he  evidently  means  to  be 
in  a  position  to  disclaim  having  any  policy  of  his  own 
and  to  load  the  whole  responsibility  upon  Congress.  But 
while  that  is  his  attitude  in  his  speeches,  is  he  not  in  fact 
committing  the  country  to  a  course  from  which  retreat, 
even  were  Congress  so  disposed,  will  be  well-nigh 
impossible? 

By  the  way,  I  had  quite  a  talk  with  Senator  Hoar  the 
other  evening.  He  asserted  with  much  warmth — what  I 
suppose  to  be  true — that  but  for  Bryan  and  his  influence 
with  Democratic  Senators,  the  treaty  would  not  have 
been  ratified.  That  being  so,  will  it  not  be  quite  im¬ 
possible  for  him  to  pose  successfully  as  an  anti¬ 
imperialist?  .  .  . 

But  though  I  put  this  in  type  rather  than  in  my  own 
elegant  handwriting,  to  save  your  eyes  and  time  and 
patience,  I  fear  I  am  taking  advantage  of  your  welcome 
note  to  inflict  upon  you  a  reply  of  most  inordinate  length. 
The  really  important  thing,  after  all,  is  what  you  suggest 
— namely,  how  to  get  to  Cape  Cod  and  Jim  Jones  and 
the  bass  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  I  shall  get 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  28 1 

there  as  soon  as  my  family  will  permit — probably  early 
in  June — and  that  Jones  and  the  bass  will  be  on  hand 
with  their  customary  cordial  greetings  I  have  no  reason 
to  doubt. 

Have  you  noticed  what  a  handsome  start  our  Ambas¬ 
sador  in  London  has  made?  If  they  take  him  seriously  on 
the  other  side,  what  a  nice  sort  of  nation  they  will  deem 
us  to  be. 

I  hear  that  the  Zorn  portraits  of  Mrs.  Cleveland  and 
yourself  are  most  successful — also  that  they  are  coming 
on  here  soon  for  exhibition — and  hope  both  rumors  will 
prove  to  be  well  founded. 

My  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Cleveland  and  the  children, 
with  the  same  for  yourself  and,  looking  forward  with 
eagerness  to  a  personal  meeting  before  many  weeks,  I  am 

Sincerely  yours, 

Richard  Olney. 

P.  S. 

Miles  is  here — called  on  me  yesterday — to  my  dis¬ 
appointment  in  plain  clothes  and  not  in  his  gold  uniform. 
What  he  wanted  to  find  out  or  what  he  did  find  out,  I 
don’t  know.  I  think  I  found  that  the  presidential  bee  in 
his  bonnet  has  swelled  to  the  size  of  a  full-grown  peacock. 

“The  poor  old  Democratic  party!”  Mr.  Cleveland 
lamented  in  reply.  “What  a  spectacle  it  presents  as  a 
tender  to  Bryanism  and  nonsense.  If  there  should  be  a 
glimmer  of  returned  Democratic  sense  between  now  and 
the  next  National  Convention,  it  might,  as  its  best  (or 
worst)  result,  ascend  (or  descend)  from  Bryan  to 
Gorman — nothing  better  in  my  opinion.” 

As  the  currency  question  upon  which  Mr.  Cleveland 
had  broken  with  his  party  was  no  longer  an  issue,  thanks 


282 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


to  the  fact  that  the  newly  discovered  gold  fields  of  the 
Klondike,  the  Nome  district,  Cooks  Inlet,  etc.,  had  fully 
met  the  demands  of  business,  the  Democrats  began  to 
hope  that  the  ex-President  would  return  to  the  party  fold 
and  work  with  Bryan  to  stem  the  tide  of  imperialism. 
But  Mr.  Cleveland  had  no  intention  of  fighting  in  ranks  ^ 
headed  by  Bryan.  He  did  not  wish  to  command,  but  if 
he  followed  it  must  be  some  other  leader  than  the 
Prophet  of  Free  Silver.  Of  this  his  letters  left  no  doubt. 

“Don’t  you  in  these  days,”  he  wrote  to  Dickinson,  on 
November  nth,  “sometimes  pinch  yourself  to  see  if  you 
are  awake,  when  you  contemplate  so-called  Democratic 
management?  I  actually  find  myself  wondering  whether 
or  not  those  who  are  leading  us  do  not  deliberately  in¬ 
tend  to  assassinate  the  organization,  and  bury  it  com¬ 
pletely  out  of  sight  and  for  all  time.” 

Princeton,  N.  J. 

February  J ,  IQOO . 

My  dear  Mr.  Shepard: 

Your  letter  is  just  at  hand.  I  have  not  sufficiently 
recovered  from  a  tedious  disability  to  permit  my  attend¬ 
ance  at  the  dinner  appointed  for  next  Saturday  evening. 

Perhaps  I  ought  not  to  add  anything  to  this;  and  yet 
I  feel  that  I  would  not  be  candid  if  I  suppressed  the 
further  statement,  that  even  though  the  obstacle  I  have 
mentioned  were  not  in  the  way,  I  should  still  be  con¬ 
strained  to  avoid  appearing  as  a  somber  figure  at  the 
feast.  This  is  written  under  the  influence  of  so  strong 
a  desire  to  see  true  Democracy  rehabilitated  that  it  out¬ 
weighs  every  other  wish.  It  is  written,  too,  I  beg  you 
to  believe,  uninfluenced  by  the  least  feeling  of  personal 
irritation  or  resentment. 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  283 

Considered  in  the  light  of  judgment  and  expediency, 
I  am  satisfied  you  are  wrong  in  suggesting  my  presence 
at  your  meeting  of  conciliation.  Thousands  of  those  who 
have  struggled  to  maintain  the  true  Democratic  faith, 
may  be  forgiven  by  the  apostles  of  a  newly-invented 
Democracy;  but  it  seems  that  I  am  as  yet  beyond  the  pale 
of  honorable  condonation. 

Prominent  among  your  guests  of  honor,  there  will  be 
those  who  lose  no  occasion,  on  the  floor  of  Congress  or 
elsewhere,  to  repudiate  me  as  a  Democrat,  and  to  swell 
the  volume  of  “jeers”  and  “laughter”  that  greet  the  men¬ 
tion  of,  my  name  in  that  connection.  Perhaps  they  are 
justified;  but  if  I  have  sinned  against  Democracy,  I  am 
ignorant  of  my  sin;  and  in  any  event,  my  love  of  country 
and  party  will  not  permit  me  to  sue  for  forgiveness  while 
being  dragged  behind  the  chariot  of  Bryanism.  I  know 
your  motives  are  pure  and  your  purposes  exalted.  Have 
I  not  written  something,  that  should  challenge  your 
thought,  in  support  of  my  opinion  that  I  would  be  an 
ill-selected  guest  at  your  dinner? 

If  a  movement  shall  be  there  inaugurated  tending 
toward  a  revival  of  true  Democracy,  I  shall  be  glad  that 
I  have  taken  no  risk  of  interrupting  it.  If  it  should  lead 
to  loading  more  securely  upon  our  party  the  fatal  burdens 
of  the  Chicago  platform  and  Bryanism,  I  shall  be  glad 
to  have  had  no  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Edward  M.  Shepard, 

Brooklyn,  N.Y. 

His  letters  were  equally  denunciatory  of  McKinley 
and  the  Republicans  who  seemed  to  him,  he  said,  likely 
“to  get  their  feet  into  the  trough  and  upset  it.”  Even  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


284 

signing  of  the  Currency  Bill  on  March  14,  1900,  which 
legalized  the  gold  standard,  fixed  the  reserve  at  $150,- 
000,000,  and  authorized  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  protect  it  by  effective  bond  issues,  did  not  restore  his 
confidence  in  McKinley.  It  seemed  only  to  deepen  his 
resentment  that  it  had  been  left  to  the  Republicans  thus 
to  serve  the  country  while  his  own  party  was  “in  the  hands 
of  charlatans  and  put  to  the  ignoble  use  of  aiding  personal 
ambition.” 

“The  political  situation  is  too  much  for  me — that  is, 
I  cannot  put  it  before  me  in  any  shape  for  satisfactory 
contemplation,”  he  wrote  to  Olney  on  June  25th.  “I 
see  Massachusetts’  sweet-scented  ‘scholar  in  politics’ 
played  true  to  his  despicable  nature  at  Philadelphia.  As 
for  our  own  party,  the  old  Adam  occasionally  dominates 
me,  to  the  extent  of  prompting  me  to  second  the  sugges¬ 
tion  of  a  queer  old  woman  who  said  a  few  days  ago,  anent 
the  Herald's  suggestion  that  I  run  for  President,  ‘Let 
them  that  got  into  the  scrape,  get  out  of  it.’  ” 

And  so,  he  sought  to  absorb  his  faculties  in  academic 
activities,  and  to  hold  aloof  from  politics.  But  politics, 
in  one  form  or  another,  inevitably  crept  in,  though  some¬ 
times  unawares.  Richard  Watson  Gilder  has  left  this 
account  of  such  an  occasion: 

“Stayed  at  Westland,  Saty.,  25th  to  Tues.,  28th,  ’99. 

“Sunday  night  I  brought  Prof.  W.  W.  [Woodrow 
Wilson]  down  to  the  house,  wanting  him  to  talk  with  the 
President  on  the  subject  W.  is  thinking  and  writing 
about — namely,  high  politics  and  the  relation  of  states¬ 
manship  to  practical  partisanship,  etc.  The  Professor 
wants  to  arrive  at  a  working  theory — to  set  forth  con¬ 
siderations  which  will  make  it  easier  for  men  of  con¬ 
science  to  remain  in  touch  with  the  machinery  of  party. 
G.  C.  said  that  it  was  sometimes  perplexing  to  draw  the 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  285 

line,  to  know  how  far  one  could  go  in  yielding  to  the 
views  of  others.  .  .  .  After  W.  W.  went,  G.  C.  entered 
into  details.” 

On  June  29th,  William  Elroy  Curtis  drew  the  follow¬ 
ing  picture  for  the  readers  of  the  Chicago  Record : 

“Ex-President  Cleveland  is  living  a  quiet,  dignified 
life  at  Princeton  in  a  congenial  atmosphere  and  apparent 
contentment.  He  has  plenty  of  time  for  study  and  reflec¬ 
tion;  he  can  command  the  society  of  many  learned  and 
agreeable  men  whose  political  views  are  more  or  less 
sympathetic,  if  not  similar,  to  his  own;  he  can  accept 
consultation  cases  from  New  York  firms  and  corporations 
that  pay  big  fees  and  thus  make  an  income  sufficient  for 
his  wants;  he  can  receive  a  sufficient  amount  of  deference, 
adulation,  and  honor  to  satisfy  his  pride  and  keep  his 
name  before  the  public,  and  can  have  all  the  fun  he  needs 
watching  the  pranks  of  the  students — all  this  without 
going  out  of  Princeton;  and  what  more  can  an  ex-Presi- 
dent  ask  for?  The  chaplains  pray  for  him;  the  univer¬ 
sity  professors  quote  from  his  public  papers  in  their 
lectures  to  the  students  and  hold  him  up  before  them  as 
an  eminent  example;  he  is  himself  a  member  of  the 
faculty,  occupies  the  chair  of  ‘lecturer  on  public  affairs,’ 
and  the  students  admit  him  to  the  general  circle  of  fun 
and  good  fellowship,  which  is  the  most  gratifying,  no 
doubt,  to  a  man  of  his  sentiment  and  sense  of  humor  of 
all  his  experiences  here. 

“Whenever  anything  happens  to  excite  a  demonstra¬ 
tion  the  ex-President  is  always  remembered.  The  other 
evening  when  the  youngest  class  in  college,  having  com¬ 
pleted  their  annual  examinations,  were  celebrating  their 
promotion  from  freshmen  to  sophomores  in  a  rather  bois¬ 
terous  way,  their  procession  marched  from  the  residence 


286 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


of  President  Patton  to  Mr.  Cleveland’s  modest  home. 
He  heard  them  coming — the  entire  town  could  trace  their 
movements  by  the  unearthly  noise  they  made — and  was 
standing  on  the  veranda  when  they  reached  his  house. 
They  gave  him  the  college  yell,  as  they  always  do,  and 
he  responded  with  a  pleasant  little  speech,  congratulat¬ 
ing  them  upon  the  onward  step  they  had  taken,  wishing 
them  a  successful  course  in  the  university  and  successful 
careers  in  after  life,  and  thanking  them  for  calling  upon 
him. 

“When  the  Princeton  baseball  nine  defeated  Yale  the 
entire  body  of  students  in  their  enthusiasm  marched  to 
his  house  and  let  him  congratulate  them  and  the  univer¬ 
sity  upon  the  victory.  T  wish  I  could  give  the  Princeton 
yell,  boys,’  he  said,  Tut,  as  I  can’t,  you  must  give  it  for 
me.  Now,  together,  with  a  will!’  And  thus  he  main¬ 
tains  an  intimate  and  sympathetic  relation  with  1,200  or 
1,500  boys  that  keeps  him  young  and  is  good  for  both 
sides.  .  .  . 

“On  all  formal  occasions  Mr.  Cleveland  appears  with 
the  rest  of  the  faculty  in  a  mortar-board  cap,  a  silk  gown, 
a  hood  lined  with  orange,  which  is  the  university  color, 
and  a  band  of  purple,  which  denotes  a  doctor  of  laws.” 

4.. 

When  the  Democratic  National  Convention  assem¬ 
bled  at  Kansas  City  on  July  4th,  it  manifested  little  desire 
to  tempt  the  old  leader  from  the  enfolding  academic 
shades.  Instead  it  nominated  Bryan  by  acclamation  and,^ 
although  making  anti-imperialism  the  chief  issue,  re¬ 
affirmed  and  indorsed  the  principles  of  the  Chicago  plat¬ 
form  of  1896,  specifically  demanding  “the  free  and  un¬ 
limited  coinage  of  silver  and  gold  at  the  present  legal 
ratio  of  16  to  1,  and  without  waiting  for  the  aid  or  consent 
of  any  other  nation.” 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  287 

So  overwhelming  was  Mr.  Cleveland’s  disappoint¬ 
ment  at  this  outcome,  that  for  several  months  he  ceased 
to  discuss  public  questions,  even  with  his  intimate  friends. 
During  those  dark  days,  the  darkest  of  all  his  life,  his 
fish  and  his  family  were  his  consolation.  Day  after  day, 
he  hid  himself  in  some  quiet  cove  of  Buzzards  Bay, 
starting  at  dawn,  with  “Brad”  and  some  chosen  com¬ 
panion,  Joe  Jefferson,  Dean  West,  Professor  McClana- 
han,  the  Commodore,  or  some  other  member  of  the 
Poverty  Club,  not  too  closely  associated  with  political 
memories.  When  the  last  ounce  of  joy  had  been  extracted 
from  his  favorite  nooks  where  bottom  fish  abound,  he 
would  troll  for  blue  fish  until,  wearied  at  last,  he  landed 
at  his  little  wooden  wharf,  climbed  the  grassy  knoll  to 
the  privacy  of  his  home,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
nearest  neighbor,  and  sought  the  never-failing  cheerful¬ 
ness  of  wife  and  children,  who  alone  had  power  to  make 
endurable  his  St.  Helena. 

Amid  the  sadness  of  that  summer  of  1900,  each  mail 
brought  from  his  friends  requests  for  political  advice, 
and  from  his  foes  indignant  demands  that  he  aid  the 
party  which  had  thrice  honored  him  with  its  highest 
honor,  while  the  newspapers  gossiped  over  the  question, 
“Why  does  he  not  speak?”  Though  declining  to  en¬ 
lighten  his  enemies,  the  general  public,  or  the  press,  he 
continued  to  state  his  views  to  his  intimate  and  trusted 
friends.  To  Harmon  he  wrote: 

Gray  Gables,  Buzzards  Bay,  Mass. 

July  17,  IQOO . 

Personal 

My  dear  Mr.  Harmon: 

I  was  very  glad  to  hear  from  you — though  it  is  diffi¬ 
cult  to  write  as  full  and  frank  a  reply  as  I  would  like. 


288 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Letters  similar  to  yours  come  daily  to  me  from  all  classes 
and  conditions  of  men,  who  still  love  the  old  faith,  and 
who  cannot  plainly  see  the  path  of  duty.  So  with  the 
arrival  of  every  mail  I  have  a  season  of  cursing  the 
criminals  who  have  burglarized  and  befouled  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  Home. 

I  have  refrained  from  replying  to  those  letters,  be¬ 
cause  I  have  not  been  forgiven  by  Mr.  Bryan  for  lack 
of  support  in  1896;  and  pending  his  pardon ,  have  no 
standing  in  the  new  Democracy,  and  cannot  therefore 
speak  from  that  standpoint;  and  if  I  should  speak  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  principles  and  teachings  of  the  old  Democracy, 
the  notions  of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  party  are  so  mis¬ 
taken  and  confused,  that  the  charge  against  me  of 
ingratitude,  and  other  accusations  and  abuse,  would  do  as 
much  or  more  harm  than  good. 

Of  course  the  “old  Adam”  rebels  against  the  dema¬ 
gogue  and  insolent  crusader,  whose  title  to  Democracy 
is  far  from  unquestioned,  but  who  notwithstanding 
assumes  to  say  what  Democracy  is,  and  to  grant  certifi¬ 
cates  of  membership.  It  is  humiliating  to  feel  that 
Democrats  who  were  fighting  its  battles  before  Bryan  was 
born  should  be  obliged  to  sue  to  him  for  credentials;  and 
as  a  condition  of  obtaining  them  forego  all  the  political 
beliefs  of  former  days.  But  personal  feelings  should  be 
sacrificed  if  by  doing  so  the  country  can  be  saved  from 
disaster. 

As  between  imperialism  and  a  continued  struggle 
against  sound  money,  you  and  many  other  good  and 
patriotic  Democrats,  see  more  danger  in  the  first.  The 
latter  and  much  more  trouble  we  would  surely  get  with 
Bryan.  How  certain  can  you  be  that  he  would  save  you 
from  imperialism?  What  did  he  do  towards  that  end 
when  the  treaty  of  peace  was  before  the  Senate;  and  how 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  289 

do  you  know  what  such  an  acrobat  would  do  on  that 
question  if  his  personal  ambition  was  in  the  balance? 

My  feeling  is  that  the  safety  of  the  country  is  in  the 
rehabilitation  of  the  old  Democratic  party.  It  would  be 
a  difficult  task  to  do  this,  at  the  end  of  four  years  of  a 
Bryan  administration  and  its  absurdities,  for  which  the 
Democratic  party  would  be  held  responsible.  With  the 
defeat  of  Bryanism  and  the  sham  Democratic  organiza¬ 
tion  gathered  about  him,  and  his  and  its  disappearance 
in  the  darkness  of  aroused  Democracy’s  scorn  and  con¬ 
tempt,  the  old  guard  untainted  with  either  Bryanism  or 
McKinleyism  could  gather  together  the  forces — check¬ 
ing,  through  fear  of  the  indomitable  force  of  true 
Democracy,  Republican  excesses  and  promising  to  the 
country  the  conservation  and  safety  of  Democratic 
principles. 

Bear  in  mind  that  McKinleyism  has  not  so  far  com¬ 
mitted  itself  concerning  the  treatment  and  disposition  of 
our  new  possessions,  that  it  could  not  be  frightened  into 
decency  by  the  organization  of  an  opposition  resting  upon 
sane  principle,  solid  character,  and  substantial  appeal  to 
the  sense  and  judgment  of  our  people. 

I  am  afraid  that  the  Republicans  cannot  be  dislodged 
until  Bryanism  and  all  in  its  train  is  abandoned  if  not 
expressly  repudiated;  this  cannot  be  done  until  new  men 
are  at  the  helm  of  the  party;  and  when  such  new  men  are 
called  for,  it  seems  to  me  those  most  useful  and  acceptable 
will  be  those  who  now  decline  Bryanism  because  it  is 
not  Democracy,  and  Republicanism  because  it  is  in  every 
way  and  at  all  times  un-Democratic. 

When  the  collapse  of  Bryanism  comes,  the  rank  and 
file,  who  have  been  deceived  and  misled,  will  in  my 
opinion  look  for  just  such  leaders.  I  shall  remain  an 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


290 

intensely  anxious  looker-on.  The  activities  will  fall  on 
such  men  as  you. 

I  have  written  you  my  thoughts  as  I  have  to  no  other 
person.  I  may  be  all  wrong,  but  if  I  am  I  don’t  intend 
to  influence  others  to  do  wrong  too.  I  am  quite  happy  in 
political  exile — or  should  be  if  I  did  not  love  my  country 
so  well.  I  will  only  add  that  I  am  not  in  favor  of  an 
independent  Democratic  ticket;  and  further  that  what  I 
have  written  is  for  you  alone. 

Give  our  love  to  Mrs.  Harmon  and  believe  me 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Judson  Harmon, 

Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

# 

Early  in  the  fall,  the  Baltimore  Sun  called  his  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Olney  had  expressed  the  view 
“that  the  best  interests  of  the  country  again  require  .  .  . 
the  triumph  of  the  Democratic  party,  despite  the  defects 
which  he  recognizes  in  its  platform,  and  its  leadership,” 
and  asked  for  Mr.  Cleveland’s  opinion  on  the  subject, 
“strictly  confidential,  or  as  matter  for  publication,  as  you 
may  desire.”  The  same  mail  brought  an  indignant  letter 
from  John  P.  Irish:  “Mr.  Olney  and  Mr.  Wilson  may 
lie  down  with  Mr.  Hearst  and  Morgan,  Altgeld,  Towne, 
and  Eugene  Debs,  if  they  wish.  I  decline,  though  I  lie 
alone.  ...  I  prefer  that  you  shall  go  into  history  as  the 
last  Democratic  President  of  the  Republic,  rather  than 
that  Bryan  shall  go  there  as  the  first  Populist  President. 
.  .  .  The  party  in  whose  conventicles  your  name  is  men¬ 
tioned  only  to  be  hissed  is  not  the  Democratic  party.”  At 
once  Mr.  Cleveland  answered  the  Suns  question,  but  his 
reply  was  not  for  publication: 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  29 1 

Buzzards  Bay, 

Sept.  II,  IQOO . 

Messrs.  A.  S.  Abell  Co. 

Gentlemen : 

I  hope  that  I  have  not  grown  heedless  of  any  duty  I 
owe  my  countrymen;  but  I  am  not  inclined  to  declare 
publicly  my  thoughts  and  opinions  on  the  political  situa¬ 
tion.  This  I  supposed  was  quite  clearly  expressed  in  my 
note  recently  published  in  the  New  York  Herald. 

For  a  number  of  years  I  have  been  abused  and 
ridiculed  by  professed  Democrats,  because  I  have  not 
hesitated  to  declare  that  Bryanism  is  not  Democracy.  I 
have  had  the  consolation  of  seeing  those  who  professed 
my  belief  run  to  cover,  and  of  noting  a  more  headlong 
Democratic  rush  after  anti-Democratic  vagaries.  My 
opinions  have  not  changed,  why  then  should  I  speak  when 
bedlam  is  at  its  height?  Perhaps  I  am  wrong  in  my 
opinions;  at  any  rate  I  should  say  unwelcome  things; 
and  all  to  no  purpose  except  to  add  to  the  volume  of 
abuse,  which  undefended,  I  have  so  long  borne. 

I  received  this  morning  a  clipping  from  a  German 
newspaper  containing  my  note  to  the  Herald  with  this 
comment:  “That  was  wise.  That  part  of  the  American 
people  who  most  need  instruction  at  this  time  would  not 
listen  to  Grover  Cleveland,  but  the  only  thanks  they  would 
give  him  for  his  well-meant  advice  would  be  to  open 
upon  him  a  new  bombardment  of  poison  and  dirt;  the 
other  part  do  not  need  to  be  taught  by  anyone  how  to 
vote  rightly  next  November.”  That’s  about  it. 

You  are  not,  however,  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that 
I  could  be  induced  to  do  anything  in  aid  of  McKinleyism 
or  any  phase  of  Republicanism.  I  suppose  it  is  a  case 
of  being  “damned  if  I  do  and  damned  if  I  don’t,”  but  I 
have  made  up  my  mind  that  I  am  entitled  to 


292 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


decline  enlistment  in  the  war  between  Bryanism  and 
McKinleyism. 

This  communication  is  strictly  confidential.  It  is 
written  because  I  cannot  ignore  your  letter. 

Yours  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Five  days  later  he  poured  out  his  heart  to  Bissell. 

Buzzards  Bay, 

Sept.  16,  IQOO. 

My  dear  Bissell : 

I  was  very  glad  to  get  your  letter  of  the  8th.  Some¬ 
how,  in  these  days,  I  think  I  am  more  than  ever  glad  to 
hear  from  old  friends. 

The  President  wrote  me  asking  if  I  would  accept  the 
appointment  as  one  of  the  arbitrators  under  the  Hague 
Convention.  In  reply  I  wrote  that  my  disinclination  to 
assume  any  duty  of  a  public  nature  was  so  great,  that  I 
should  ask  him  to  permit  me  to  decline  the  proffered 
honor.  He  replied  urging  me  to  accept  the  place,  and 
informed  me  that  Ex-President  Harrison  had  accepted, 
&c.  Oscar  Straus,  who  was  then  in  Washington,  also 
wrote  seconding  the  President’s  request;  and  Secretary 
Gage  wrote  to  Hamlin  in  the  same  way,  and  his  letter  was 
sent  to  me  by  Hamlin.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  I  felt 
constrained  to  adhere  to  my  determination;  and  a  number 
of  days  before  the  receipt  of  your  letter,  I  had  definitely 
disposed  of  the  matter,  by  writing  to  the  President  that 
upon  a  re-examination  of  the  subject  I  failed  to  persuade 
myself  that  I  ought  to  accept  the  appointment. 

I  think  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  Hague  Con¬ 
ference  were  lame  and  disappointing  ones.  I  did  not  care 
to  be  one  of  four  men,  the  majority  of  whom  would  prob- 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  293 

ably  be  quite  under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Harrison;  and  in  my 
peculiar  relation  to  the  organization  of  my  party,  I 
thought  it  better  not  to  hold  a  place  under  the  appoint¬ 
ment  of  the  present  administration. 

The  pending  campaign  has  brought  upon  me  much 
unhappiness.  First  there  came  numerous  letters  from 
apparently  honest  Democrats  in  every  part  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  asking  my  advice  as  to  how  they  should  vote.  These 
have  been  largely  succeeded  by  persuasions  and  demands 
from  self-styled  rock-ribbed  Democrats,  that  I  should 
publicly  declare  myself  in  favor  of  the  ticket  of  the 
“party  which  has  so  greatly  honored  me”;  and  in  many 
cases  the  insistence  is  made  that  a  word  from  me  would 
insure  the  success  of  the  ticket.  With  these  came  appeals 
from  anti-imperialists,  asking  all  sorts  of  things. 

Through  all  this  I  have  maintained  silence,  except 
to  say  that  I  have  nothing  to  say.  To  four  letters,  I  think, 
from  people  I  could  not  ignore,  I  have  written  my  views. 
I  cannot  write  or  speak  favorably  of  Bryanism.  I  do  not 
regard  it  as  Democracy.  But  many  good  party  men  do. 
I  cannot  conceive  that  anything  I  might  say  would  better 
conditions  or  change  results.  It  would,  however,  add  to 
the  volume  of  abuse  which  for  a  long  time  has  been 
hurled  at  my  “defenseless  head,”  and  by  a  bare  possibility 
destroy  an  opportunity  for  usefulness  in  the  future. 

I  have  some  idea  that  the  party  may  before  long  be 
purged  of  Bryanism,  and  that  the  rank  and  file,  surprised 
at  their  wanderings,  and  enraged  at  their  false  leaders, 
will  be  anxious  to  return  to  the  old  faith;  and  in  their 
desire  to  reorganize  under  the  old  banners  will  welcome 
the  counsel  of  those  who  have  never  yielded  to  disastrous 
heresy.  This  may  never  be;  or  it  may  be  that,  however 
complete  the  return,  those  who  now  refuse  to  aid  in  the 
struggle  made  in  the  name  of  Democracy,  whether  for 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


294 

right  or  wrong,  will  still  incur  Democratic  hatred  and 
discontent.  Still  it  is  worth  all,  to  be  conscious  that 
at  all  times  one  has  been  consistent  and  patriotically 
Democratic. 

I  have  seen  Olney  but  once  this  summer.  I  put  the 
matter  before  him  as  I  have  to  you.  He  expressed  his 
inclination  to  vote  for  Bryan,  and  suggested  that  those 
who  did  so  might  better  secure  the  confidence  of  the  party 
in  the  future.  He  may  .be  right  on  this  proposition,  as 
there  may  have  been  something  more  in  his  mind  than 
there  was  in  mine .  It  seems  to  me  strange  that  a  man 
who  in  my  judgment  is  largely  responsible,  through  his 
Atlantic  article,  for  the  doctrine  of  expansion  and  con¬ 
sequent  imperialism,  should  now  be  so  impressed  with 
the  fatal  tendency  of  imperialism,  as  to  be  willing  to  take 
Bryanism  as  an  antidote.  But  the  times  are  as  full  of 
strange  and  untoward  things  as  they  can  be;  and  no  one 
can  foretell  the  issue. 

I  cannot  believe  Bryanism  will  win.  I  am  sure 
Democracy  if  it  was  in  the  field  would  win;  and  in  any 
event  we  shall  the  most  of  us,  I  think,  be  surprised  at  the 
number  who  will  follow  the  spurious  banner  to  the 
polls.  .  .  . 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

The  idea  of  forming  a  third  party  he  disapproved  as 
probably  unnecessary  and  certainly  untimely.  “I  am  a 
strong  Democrat,”  he  wrote  to  A.  B.  Farquhar,  on 
September  20th,  “and  my  great  affliction  is  that  the  pres¬ 
ent  so-called  Democratic  organization  does  not  represent 
Democratic  principles  as  I  understand  them.  I  am  not, 
therefore,  perhaps,  a  very  good  adviser  in  the  premises. 
I  believe,  however,  if  the  organization  of  a  third  party 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  295 

becomes  hereafter  a  strong  movement,  and  is  thought 
necessary  by  strong  men,  the  present  effort  will  not  be  a 
factor,  but  will  be  entirely  ignored  and  passed  over.  .  .  . 
If  such  an  emergency  should  arise,  I  am  afraid  identifica¬ 
tion  with  an  insignificant  and  inopportune  movement 
now ,  might  impair  usefulness  that  would  be  greatly 
needed  then .  The  projectors  of  the  present  effort  have 
been  so  very  unfortunate,  and  the  time  left  for  action  is 
so  short,  that  I  do  not  see  how  any  national  good  can  result 
from  it.” 

Toward  the  end  of  September,  Mr.  John  S.  Green,  a 
gold  Democrat  of  Kentucky,  sent  him  a  copy  of  the  letter 
to  Chicago  business  men,  written  on  April  13,  1895, 
denouncing  Bryan.  With  it  came  the  questions:  “Are 
you  still  opposed  to  the  Chicago  platform,  and  do  you 
advise  your  old  friends  to  support  Bryan  and  his  present 
platform?”  To  which  Mr.  Cleveland  replied: 

Buzzards  Bay,  Mass. 

October  J ,  IQOO. 

John  S.  Green,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir: 

I  have  received  your  letter  enclosing  a  copy  of  my 
letter  written  more  than  five  years  ago  to  the  business 
men  of  Chicago.  I  had  not  seen  it  in  a  long  time;  but  it 
seems  to  me  I  could  not  state  the  case  better  at  this  time 
if  I  should  try. 

I  have  not  changed  my  opinion  as  then  expressed  in 
the  least. 

Yours  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

This  correspondence,  having  been  given  to  the  press 
by  Mr.  Green,  was  at  once  explained  by  the  Bryanites  as 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


296 

referring  to  currency  alone.  Currency,  they  argued,  is  no 
longer  the  vital  issue;  imperialism  has  taken  its  place,  and 
upon  the  question  of  imperialism  Mr.  Cleveland  and  Mr. 
Bryan  are  one.  Therefore  Mr.  Cleveland  favors  Mr. 
Bryan  over  Mr.  McKinley.  This  conclusion,  though 
perhaps  logical,  was  without  a  shred  of  justification,  as 
the  following  confidential  letter  makes  abundantly  clear: 

Princeton,  Oct .  12,  IQOO . 

My  dear  Mr.  Dickinson: 

...  I  am  still  pestered  to  death  nearly  with  appeals 
“to  come  out  for  Bryan”  and  for  advice  “how  to  vote.” 
It  is  surprising  how  many  letters  I  receive  purporting 
to  come  from  people  who  opposed  Bryan  in  1896  and 
are  supporting  him  now.  A  comparative  few  of  my 
correspondents  ask  me  to  oppose  Bryan  publicly.  Since, 
however,  I  cannot  do  what  the  large  majority  desires, 
and  since  I  am  very  far  from  wishing  to  aid  McKinleyism 
affirmatively,  I  have  thought  I  might  satisfy  my  con¬ 
science  and  avoid  the  accusation  of  open  and  pronounced 
ingratitude  by  keeping  silence.  This  is  a  thing  very  hard 
for  me  to  do  at  a  time  when  I  am  so  clear  in#my  con¬ 
victions;  and  occasionally  I  am  very  restive.  You  see 
there  are  millions  of  our  fellow  citizens  who  believe  that 
the  organization  now  supporting  Bryan  is  the  same  that 
on  three  occasions  nominated  and  supported  me;  and  it 
is  hard  for  them  to  reconcile  my  silence,  and  would  be 
more  difficult  to  reconcile  my  open  and  avowed  opposi¬ 
tion,  with  a  proper  appreciation  on  my  part,  of  the  honors 
and  favors  freely  accorded  me  by  Democracy  in  the  past. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  day  I  hope  is  not  far  distant 
when  sanity  will  succeed  insanity  and  the  Democratic 
masses  will  cry  out  for  deliverance  from  Bryanism  and 
a  resurrection  of  true  Democratic  faith.  If  that  day 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  297 

dawns,  there  must  be  those  untainted  with  heresy  to  hold 
aloft  the  standard.  I  do  not  assume  for  a  moment  that  I 
shall  or  can  be  one  of  these;  but  perchance  I  may  encour¬ 
age  and  rejoice.  You  can  hardly  believe  [how]  deeply 
I  am  concerned  lest  I  should  miss  doing  that  which  is 
best  for  my  country  and — what  in  the  present  emergency 
seems  to  me  almost  the  same — best  for  my  party. 

I  know  you  will  pardon  this  long  uninvited  letter.  I 
would  be  glad  if  you  could  give  me  any  advice  or 
comfort. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  D.  M.  Dickinson, 

Detroit,  Mich. 

If  more  evidence  be  needed,  it  is  found  in  another 
letter  to  Dickinson,  written  a  few  days  later,  which 
declared:  “I  don’t  see  how  an  honest  man,  holding  the 
views  I  then  expressed,  can  favor  Bryanism  now.”  Also 
when  Eckles,  his  former  Comptroller  of  the  Currency, 
and  close  personal  friend,  wrote  from  Chicago:  “The 
followers  of  Bryan  .  .  .  are  attempting  to  deceive  honest 
and  respectable  Democrats  to  the  support  of  Bryan  by 
saying  you  are  so  much  against  McKinleyism  that  .  .  . 
you  are  accepting  Bryanism,”  he  declined  to  publish  a 
statement,  and  when  the  Democratic  Headquarters  in 
New  York,  on  October  21st,  sent  him  an  S.  O.  S.,  he 
answered:  “My  silence  is  the  best  contribution  I  can 
make.” 

A  few  days  before  the  election  certain  of  his  enemies 
played  their  last  card.  On  October  29th,  a  reporter 
named  Black  brought  to  the  office  of  the  Philadelphia 
Times  what  he  declared  to  be  an  interview  recently 
granted  him  at  Princeton  by  ex-President  Cleveland.  He 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


298 

asked  no  compensation  for  the  article,  which  circum¬ 
stance  should  have  aroused  suspicion,  and  in  the  absence 
of  the  editor,  Mr.  A.  K.  McClure,  the  interview  was 
passed  and  printed.  It  startled  both  parties  with  its 
astonishing  declarations: 

“Grover  Cleveland  ...  in  an  interview  which  I  had 
with  him,  predicted  a  landslide  to  William  Jennings 
Bryan.  .  .  .  Mr.  Cleveland  said:  ‘My  young  man,  you 
will  see  a  landslide  for  Bryan  the  morning  after  election; 
of  that  I  am  confident.’  To  this  I  replied  that  the  indica¬ 
tions,  according  to  Republican  leaders,  are  favorable  to 
McKinley,  but  he  quickly  retorted :  ‘Of  course  they  are; 
that  is  policy.  What  I  tell  you  is  my  private  opinion.’  ” 

There  was  much  more  in  the  same  vein,  intended  to 
create  the  impression  that  Grover  Cleveland  was  back 
in  the  Democratic  fold,  eagerly  waiting  a  Democratic 
victory  which  would  place  Bryan  in  the  White  House. 

When  he  saw  the  interview  in  the  morning  papers  of 
October  30th,  Mr.  Cleveland  issued  a  prompt  denial: 
“The  whole  thing  from  beginning  to  end  is  an  absolute 
lie  without  the  least  foundation  or  shadow  of  truth.  I 
have  never  uttered  a  word  to  any  human  being  that 
affords  the  least  pretext  for  such  a  mendacious  statement.” 

Upon  which  Black  as  promptly  made  the  following 
deposition: 


Philadelphia,  Oct.  JO,  IQOO . 

I,  Robert  J.  Black,  had  an  interview  with  Grover 
Cleveland,  on  the  23rd  day  of  October,  1900,  in  his  home 
in  Princeton,  N.  J.,  and  during  a  lengthy  talk  with  him 
in  his  parlor  he  told  me  that  he  favored  Bryan,  and  said: 
“My  boy,  you  will  see  a  landslide  for  Bryan  on  the  day 


WATCHING  THE  GAME  FROM  THE  SIDE  LINES  299 

after  election,”  that  he  also  said  “Bryan  was  a  great 
orator.” 

R.  J.  Black,  Vinton,  Iowa. 
Witness:  John  A.  Bradley. 

Sworn  and  subscribed  before  me  this 
30th  day  of  October,  1900. 

John  A.  Thornton,  Magistrate  of  Court  No.  23. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  campaign,  this  pre¬ 
tended  interview  continued  to  be  used  by  unscrupulous 
politicians,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  was  with  .the 
connivance  of  responsible  national  leaders  of  the  Demo¬ 
cratic  party. 

When  the  election  of  1900  was  over,  the  most  compe¬ 
tent  critics  felt  that  Bryan  had  led  his  last  charge,  and 
that  as  a  candidate  he  was  “without  hope,  unless  the 
[next]  convention  should  be  made  up  of  political  luna¬ 
tics,”  as  a  Washington  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Times  phrased  it. 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  the  newly  elected  Vice-Presi¬ 
dent,  expressed  his  personal  appreciation  of  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land’s  part  in  this  result  in  the  following  letter: 

Private . 

State  of  New  York, 

Executive  Chamber, 

Albany, 

Nov.  22nd,  IQOO. 

Hon.  Grover  Cleveland, 

Princeton,  N.  J. 

My  dear  President  Cleveland: 

During  the  last  campaign  I  grew  more  and  more  to 
realize  the  very  great  service  you  had  rendered  to  the 
whole  country  by  what  you  did  about  free  silver.  As  I 
said  to  a  Republican  audience  in  South  Dakota,  I  think 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


300 

your  letter  on  free  silver  prior  to  your  second  nomination 
was  as  bold  a  bit  of  honest  writing  as  I  have  ever  seen  in 
American  public  life.  And  more  than  anything  else  it 
put  you  in  the  position  of  doing  for  the  American  public 
in  this  matter  of  free  silver  what  at  that  time  no  other  man 
could  have  done.  I  was  delighted  to  find  that  Governor 
Shaw  of  Iowa  had  just  the  same  feeling  about  it  that  I 
had  and  made  an  even  fuller  acknowledgment  of  the  debt 
due  to  you  in  one  of  his  speeches  at  which  I  was  present. 
I  think  now  we  have  definitely  won  out  on  the  free  silver 
business  and  therefore  I  think  you  are  entitled  to  thanks 
and  congratulations. 

With  regards,  and  best  wishes  both  for  Mrs.  Cleve¬ 
land  and  yourself,  I  am 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Mr.  Cleveland,  too,  believed  that  McKinley’s  re- 
election  meant  an  end  of  the  menace  of  free  silver;  but, 
through  the  columns  of  the  Atlanta  Constitution ,  he 
assured  his  friends  of  the  South  that  William  McKinley 
and  Theodore  Roosevelt  were  not  President  and  Vice- 
President  by  virtue  of  his  vote.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
voted  for  Bryan,  he  violated  the  conscience  and  the  desire 
of  Grover  Cleveland,  and  it  is,  therefore,  safe  to  assume 
that  he  cast  no  vote  in  1900. 

On  April  27,  1901,  he  wrote  to  Dickinson:  “It  is  a 
little  comforting  to  see  the  end  of  Bryanism  in  politics, 
but  on  the  Democratic  side  I  am  constantly  asking, 
What  next?’  ”  Although  living  in  Princeton,  in  almost 
daily  touch  with  the  only  Democrat  destined  within  a 
quarter  of  a  century  to  stand  as  the  victorious  leader  of 
Democracy,  the  idea  that  Wilsonism  was  next  never 
crossed  his  mind. 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE 

“Unswerving  loyalty  to  duty ,  constant  devotion  to  truth > 
and  a  clear  conscience  will  overcome  every  discouragement  and 
surely  lead  the  way  to  usefulness  and  high  achievement  ” 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

EARLY  in  September,  1901,  a  small  company  of 
childhood  friends  of  Vice  President  Roosevelt  re¬ 
ceived  on  their  dahabeah  on  the  Nile  the  startling  news 
that  President  McKinley  had  been  shot  by  a  half-crazed 
fanatic  at  Buffalo.  “He  will  not  recover,”  remarked  one 
of  the  party.  “We  all  know  the  Roosevelt  luck.”  A  few 
days  later,  upon  the  assurance  of  the  physicians  that  the 
President  was  making  good  progress,  Colonel  Roosevelt 
left  Washington  for  a  wilderness  journey  of  rest  and 
recreation  in  little  frequented  parts  of  the  Adirondacks. 
On  September  13th  he  reached  Lake  Colton,  near  the 
summit  of  Mount  Marcy,  accessible  only  by  means  of  a 
human  messenger.  Toward  noon  one  such  arrived,  a 
mountain  guide  sent  to  bring  the  news  that  the  President 
was  sinking  rapidly. 

Within  a  few  hours  Colonel  Roosevelt  had  returned 
to  the  house  where  he  had  left  his  family,  and  by  mid¬ 
night,  attended  by  none  save  the  driver,  he  was  descend¬ 
ing  the  mountain  in  a  buckboard,  heedless  of  rain,  dark¬ 
ness,  and  almost  impassable  roads.  Before  dawn  he  had 
covered  the  thirty  miles  to  the  nearest  railway  station,  to 
find  a  special  train  awaiting  him,  and  a  despatch  which 
announced  that  once  more  a  Vice  President  had  suc- 


301 


302  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

ceeded  to  the  office  of  Chief  Executive.  When  he  reached 
Buffalo,  the  Cabinet  was  assembled,  and  within  a  few 
moments  he  had  taken  the  solemn  oath  which  made  him, 
at  the  age  of  forty-two,  the  youngest  of  American 
Presidents. 

From  his  retreat  at  Princeton,  Mr.  Cleveland 
watched  the  career  of  the  new  Chief  Executive,  at  first 
with  sympathy,  but  soon  with  growing  trepidation. 
Although  anxious  to  do  Mr.  Roosevelt  justice,  he  found 
it  difficult  to  appreciate  his  sterling  qualities,  being  con¬ 
stantly  offended  by  methods  which  he  considered  wholly 
out  of  keeping  with  the  dignity  that  should  surround  the 
office  of  President.  Nor  did  he  come  under  the  wonder¬ 
ful  magic  of  the  Colonel’s  personality.  His  own  slower 
mind  mistook  Roosevelt’s  rapidity  for  superficiality,  and 
he  interpreted  the  latter’s  instinctively  dramatic  appeals 
to  the  people  as  the  works  of  the  demagogue.  Temper¬ 
amentally,  the  two  were  as  far  apart  as  the  poles.  Roose¬ 
velt  was  mercurial,  Cleveland  was  phlegmatic.  Roosevelt 
was  quick  to  form  friendships  or  to  conceive  enmities. 
Cleveland  did  nothing  in  haste.  Roosevelt  was  ready  of 
speech,  whether  written  or  spoken,  while  a  speech  to 
Mr.  Cleveland  was  like  a  mountain  in  the  pathway,  to 
be  laboriously  surmounted.  But  both  were  courageous 
and  resourceful  in  danger,  loyal  and  true  to  the  traditions 
of  America  in  the  face  of  temptation,  not  self-seeking  in 
public  work,  and  of  sterling  honesty. 

President  Roosevelt’s  admiration  for  Mr.  Cleveland 
was  almost  boyish.  “I  always  regarded  him  as  a  fresh¬ 
man  regards  a  senior,”  he  once  declared,  and  when 
leaving  instructions  to  his  biographer,  Joseph  Bucklin 
Bishop,  he  said:  “I  wish  you  would  put  in  all  the  letters 
of  mine  to  him.  I  was  very  fond  of  the  old  fellow.” 

About  a  year  after  Mr.  Roosevelt’s  accession  to  power, 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE 


3P3 

began  the  great  coal  strike  of  1902,  which  offered  him  a 
chance  to  employ  Mr.  Cleveland’s  personal  influence  for 
an  important  public  service.  On  May  12th,  145,000  coal 
miners  ceased  work,  in  obedience  to  the  call  of  the  United 
Mine  Workers  of  America,  under  the  leadership  of  John 
Mitchell.  Throughout  the  summer  the  owners  sought  in 
vain  to  replace  the  strikers  and  resume  the  work  of  min¬ 
ing.  As  August  advanced  it  became  apparent  that  a 
coal  famine  must  follow  unless  effective  action  was  taken, 
for,  though  the  mine  owners  had  an  abundance  of  coal 
within  easy  reach  of  the  public,  they  were  deliberately 
holding  it  out  of  the  market  in  the  hope  that  public 
opinion  would  drive  the  strikers  to  submission.  They 
“had  banded  together,  and  positively  refused  to  take  any 
steps  looking  toward  an  accommodation,”  as  President 
Roosevelt  expressed  it.  The  sympathy  of  the  public  was 
with  the  strikers,  and  the  opinion  was  freely  expressed 
that  the  federal  government  should  seize  the  mines  and 
produce  the  coal. 

As  Mr.  Cleveland  watched  conditions,  he  became 
increasingly  uneasy,  being  uncertain  what  use  President 
Roosevelt  might  make  of  such  a  situation.  “If  the  coal 
strike  and  some  other  matters  do  not  change  soon,”  he 
wrote  to  Commodore  Benedict  on  August  24th,  “I  be¬ 
lieve  there  will  be  serious  trouble  before  we  are  six 
months  older.  I  don’t  like  to  see  so  many  things  depend¬ 
ing  on  one  man’s  nod.”  Far  from  assuming  unauthorized 
power,  however,  President  Roosevelt  was  as  determined 
as  Mr.  Cleveland  could  have  been  to  adhere  to  the  strict¬ 
est  constitutional  limitations.  “I  had  in  theory,”  he 
later  wrote,  “no  power  to  act  directly  unless  the  Governor 
of  Pennsylvania  or  the  Legislature  .  .  .  should  request 
me,  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  United  States,  to 
intervene  and  keep  order.” 


304 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


On  September  26th,  New  York  closed  her  schools  to 
save  her  scant  supply  of  coal,  the  price  of  which  was 
already  almost  prohibitory.  By  October,  retail  dealers 
were  demanding  $30  a  ton,  and  the  President  was  being 
bombarded  with  prayers  for  federal  intervention. 

In  the  absence  of  an  appeal  from  the  governors  of 
the  coal  states,  however,  Mr.  Roosevelt  decided  to  try 
the  role  of  peacemaker.  He  accordingly  sent  to  the  pres¬ 
idents  of  the  anthracite  coal  companies  the  following 
telegram : 

I  should  greatly  like  to  see  you  on  Friday  next,  Octo¬ 
ber  3rd,  at  11  o’clock  A.  M.,  here  in  Washington,  in 
regard  to  the  failure  of  the  coal  supply,  which  has  be¬ 
come  a  matter  of  vital  concern  to  the  whole  nation.  I 
have  sent  a  similar  despatch  to  Mr.  John  Mitchell,  Presi¬ 
dent  of  the  United  Mine  Workers  of  America. 

Theodore  Roosevelt. 

The  meeting  was  an  excited  one,  and  much  strong 
language  was  used.  Mr.  Roosevelt  himself  said  of  it: 
“There  was  only  one  person  there  who  bore  himself  like 
a  gentleman  and  it  wasn’t  T.”  Later,  in  his  Auto¬ 
biography,  he  stated  that  it  was  John  Mitchell  who  “kept 
his  temper  admirably  and  showed  to  much  advantage.” 
Mitchell  readily  agreed  to  arbitration,  stipulating  only 
that  the  President  should  have  power  to  name  the  Com¬ 
mission,  but  the  operators  refused  to  arbitrate,  insisting 
instead  that  the  President  aid  them  in  breaking  the  strike. 
The  session  lasted  throughout  the  afternoon,  and,  at  the 
end,  the  operators  boasted  that  they  had  “turned  down 
both  the  miners  and  the  President.” 

The  next  morning,  on  his  way  from  Gray  Gables  to 
Princeton,  Mr.  Cleveland  read  in  the  New  York  Herald 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE 


305 

an  account  of  the  conference,  under  the  heading:  “Presi¬ 
dent’s  Coal  Conference  a  Complete  Failure;  Operators 
Reject  Mitchell’s  Arbitration  Offer.” 

Arrived  at  Princeton,  he  sent  the  President  the  fol¬ 
lowing  letter: 


Princeton,  Oct.  4 ,  IQ02. 

My  dear  Mr.  President  : 

I  read  in  the  paper  this  morning  on  my  way  home 
from  Buzzards  Bay,  the  newspaper  account  of  what  took 
place  yesterday  between  you  and  the  parties  directly  con¬ 
cerned  in  the  coal  strike. 

I  am  so  surprised  and  “stirred  up”  by  the  position 
taken  by  the  contestants  that  I  cannot  refrain  from  mak¬ 
ing  a  suggestion  which  perhaps  I  would  not  presume  to 
make  if  I  gave  the  subject  more  thought.  I  am  especially 
disturbed  and  vexed  by  the  tone  and  substance  of  the 
operators’  deliverances. 

It  cannot  be  that  either  side,  after  your  admonition 
to  them,  cares  to  stand  in  their  present  plight,  if  any  sort 
of  an  avenue,  even  for  temporary  escape,  is  suggested  to 
them. 

Has  it  ever  been  proposed  to  them  that  the  indigna¬ 
tion  and  dangerous  condemnation  now  being  launched 
against  both  their  houses  might  be  allayed  by  the  pro¬ 
duction  of  coal  in  an  amount,  or  for  a  length  of  time, 
sufficient  to  serve  the  necessities  of  consumers,  leaving 
the  parties  to  the  quarrel,  after  such  necessities  are  met, 
to  take  up  the  fight  again  where  they  left  off  “without 
prejudice”  if  they  desire? 

This  would  eliminate  the  troublesome  consumer  and 
public;  and  perhaps  both  operators  and  miners  would 
see  enough  advantage  in  that  to  induce  them  to  listen 
to  such  a  proposition  as  I  have  suggested. 


306  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

I  know  there  would  be  nothing  philosophical  or  con¬ 
sistent  in  all  this;  but  my  observation  leads  me  to  think 
that  when  quarreling  parties  are  both  in  the  wrong,  and 
are  assailed  with  blame  so  nearly  universal,  they  will  do 
strange  things  to  save  their  faces. 

If  you  pardon  my  presumption  in  thus  writing  you, 
I  promise  never  to  do  it  again.  At  any  rate  it  may 
serve  as  an  indication  of  the  anxiety  felt  by  millions  of 
our  citizens  on  the  subject. 

I  have  been  quite  impressed  by  a  pamphlet  I  have 
lately  read,  by  a  Mr.  Champlin  of  Boston,  entitled,  I 
believe,  “The  Coal  Mines  and  the  People.”  I  suppose 
you  have  seen  it. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

To  the  President. 

A  more  detailed  statement  of  the  thoughts  aroused  by 
the  situation  is  contained  in  the  following  undated  manu¬ 
script  found  among  his  papers,  and  showing  many 
revisions : 

“The  stubborn  and  serious  disagreements  that  have 
broken  out  from  time  to  time  in  our  industrial  localities 
between  employers  of  labor  and  those  in  their  service  who 
work  with  their  hands,  have  given  rise  to  much  discussion 
concerning  their  origin  and  the  blame  for  their  existence. 
.  .  .  They  must  be  regarded  as  the  outcome  of  a  per¬ 
sistent  effort  on  the  part  of  labor  to  secure  at  any  cost, 
a  larger  share  of  the  fruits  of  American  opportunity,  and 
opposition  to  these  efforts  by  employers,  as  based  upon 
demands  unreasonable  in  substance  and  unjustifiable  in 
method  of  enforcement.  In  the  meantime  the  situation 
they  invite  and  their  frequent  accompaniment  of  strike, 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE 


3°7 

lockout,  boycott,  paralysis  of  production  and  interruption 
of  important  undertakings,  inflict  loss  and  injury  upon 
numerous  citizens  absolutely  innocent  of  the  least  com¬ 
plicity  in  these  contentions  and  utter  strangers  to  all  they 
directly  involve.  .  .  . 

“Wherever  our  sympathies  may  be,  we  can  hardly 
escape  the  conviction  that  labor  has  made  demands, 
adopted  policies  and  permitted  if  not  encouraged  con¬ 
duct,  which  cannot  be  justified;  nor  can  we  safely  deny 
that  in  too  many  instances,  employers  of  labor  have  been 
heedless  of  the  just  and  reasonable  claims  of  their  em¬ 
ployees,  regardless  of  their  interest  and  disdainful  of  their 
presentation  of  grievances.  .  .  . 

“Manifestly  it  cannot  be  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the 
sad  consequences  visited  upon  the  actual  participants  in 
these  labor  quarrels.  Those  who  run  may  read  these  con¬ 
sequences,  in  the  pinching  deprivation  that  enters  the 
homes  of  our  working  men;  in  their  idleness  and  its 
malevolent  influence  on  character  and  habits;  and  in  the 
morbid  discontent  and  irritation  that  comes  from  brood¬ 
ing  over  wrongs. — Nor  is  the  depressing  story  less  plainly 
read  in  the  dispiriting  loss  and  perplexity  of  employers; 
in  their  inability  to  meet  contract  engagements  and  trust 
expectations;  in  the  hardening  of  their  sympathy  with  the 
mass  of  working  men,  and  in  their  blinding  resentment 
against  those  whom  they  accuse  of  guilty  responsibility 
for  afflictive  conditions.  .  .  . 

“With  all  our  efforts  to  escape  it,  the  consciousness  is 
forced  upon  us  that  neither  the  liberality  and  equal 
advantages  of  our  scheme  of  government  nor  the  patriot¬ 
ism  which  is  abroad  among  our  people  has  been  found 
sufficient  to  prevent  the  birth  and  existence  of  labor 
disturbances.  .  .  .  Human  nature  when  left  to  its  own 
devices  can  be  so  blinded  by  interest  or  prejudice,  and 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


308 

so  strongly  led  by  stereotyped  methods  of  thought,  as  to 
be  unable,  of  its  own  motion,  to  pass  a  fair  judgment 
upon  the  quality  of  its  operations  or  to  correctly  define 
its  springs  of  action. 

“These  suggestions  lead  us  to  recall  the  ease  with 
which  disagreements  between  individuals  are  frequently 
settled,  when  the  parties  are  brought  to  a  calm  review  of 
their  differences  by  a  trusted  intermediary.  .  .  .  No 
reason  can  be  given  why  such  a  course  cannot  be  followed 
with  the  same  good  results  when  the  dispute,  instead  of 
merely  involving  individuals,  is  between  organized 
working  men  and  their  employers.  .  .  . 

“The  method  .  .  .  certainly  savors  of  interference, 
but  only  with  the  consent  of  the  disputants ;  and  in  view 
of  the  broad  interests  involved,  and  the  multitude  of  our 
people  affected  by  labor  disputes,  surely  as  much  inter¬ 
ference  as  this  ought  to  be  allowed.  ...  It  is  the  only 
remedy  within  our  reach.  It  embodies  every  effort  but 
force;  and  force  is  not  suggested  as  a  real  cure  by  anyone 
who  has  studied  the  situation.  .  .  . 

“Any  intermediary  attempting  to  bring  the  parties  in 
difference  together  for  amicable  deliberation  should  be 
absolutely  disinterested  and  impartial,  and  should  possess 
the  unqualified  respect  and  confidence  of  all  the  parties 
concerned.  .  .  .  Beyond  doubt  some  concessions  might 
also  be  made  in  advance  of  conference,  which  would  bet¬ 
ter  prepare  the  contestants  in  labor  quarrels  for  friendly 
discussion.  It  is  quite  generally  believed  by  those  who 
would  be  glad  to  see  the  rights  and  interests  of  our 
working  men  fully  recognized,  that  labor  organizations 
are  much  too  radical  in  some  of  their  demands  and  too 
far-reaching  in  the  objects  of  their  efforts.  If  these  were 
so  far  reduced  that  the  claims  and  demands  of  labor 
could  be  presented  to  unprejudiced  reason  as  only  such 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE  309 

as  are  relevant  to  its  needs,  and  necessary  to  the  exigencies 
of  its  just  protection,  the  way  to  a  peaceful  adjustment  of 
their  complaints  would  be  made  very  much  easier;  and 
if  these  organizations  could  be  freed  from  the  suspicion 
of  taking  advantage  of  pending  necessities  and  emer¬ 
gencies  in  industrial  conditions  to  enforce  questionable 
demands,  it  would  give  great  encouragement  to  our 
conservative  citizens  who  approve  the  legitimate  purposes 
of  labor  unions.  .  .  . 

“Labor  unionism  is  with  us  to  stay;  and  whatever  the 
result  may  be,  it  has  become  a  permanent  element  of  our 
industrial  system.  Its  further  development  must  be  ex¬ 
pected.  It  behooves  us  therefore  to  ask  whether  this 
development  will  be  in  the  direction  of  more  reasonable 
demands,  less  menacing  methods,  and  a  larger,  more 
conscientious  conception  of  the  wide  and  vital  interests 
affected  by  the  movements  of  labor,  or  in  the  direction  of 
a  more  sullen  insistence  upon  excessive  demands,  greater 
heedlessness  of  the  comfort  and  prosperity  of  our  people 
at  large,  and  vindictive  and  revengeful  conduct,  instead 
of  protective  precautions?  .  .  . 

“It  has  been  suggested  that  it  would  be  well  for 
employers  to  organize  for  the  purpose  of  acting  together 
in  dealing  with  labor  disputes.  Such  organization  would 
be  useful  if  prompted  by  a  desire  to  facilitate  pacification 
and  if  not  allowed  to  originate  and  stimulate  obstructive 
resentments,  or  to  keep  on  constant  exhibition  an  ugly 
collection  of  real  or  supposed  wrongs.  .  .  .  With  organ¬ 
ization  on  both  sides  of  a  labor  dispute  the  field  for 
review  and  deliberation  would  be  so  enlarged,  and  such 
an  aggregate  of  varied  and  individual  situations  would 
be  presented  that  any  conclusion  arrived  at  in  adjusting 
the  dispute  would  be  more  widely  binding  and  more 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


3IQ 

easily  enforceable  than  any  that  could  be  otherwise 
reached.  .  .  .” 

The  operators  having  refused  his  attempts  at  mutual 
agreement,  President  Roosevelt  formed  a  drastic  plan, 
conceived  upon  the  theory,  as  he  later  explained,  “that 
occasionally  great  national  crises  arise  which  call  for 
immediate  and  vigorous  executive  action,  and  that  in 
such  cases  it  is  the  duty  of  the  President  to  act  upon  the 
theory  that  he  is  the  steward  of  the  people,  bound  to 
assume  that  he  has  the  legal  right  to  do  whatever  the 
needs  of  the  people  demand,  unless  the  Constitution  or 
laws  explicitly  forbid  him  to  do  it.”  Through  Senator 
Quay,  he  arranged  that  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania, 
at  a  preconcerted  signal,  should  request  federal  aid  for 
the  coal  fields,  and  that  Major-General  Schofield  should 
then  promptly  set  troops  in  motion  and  seize  the  mines. 

Wishing,  however,  to  avoid  this  extreme  measure  if 
possible,  he  decided  to  threaten  the  operators  first  with 
an  investigation  by  a  commission  so  commanding  in  its 
personnel  as  to  insure  popular  support  for  any  verdict  it 
should  render.  “Ex-President  Cleveland’s  letter  .  .  .” 
he  explained,  “gave  me  the  chance  to  secure  him  as  head 
of  the  Arbitration  Commission.  I  at  once  wrote  him, 
stating  that  I  would  very  probably  have  to  appoint  an 
Arbitration  Commission  or  Investigating  Commission  to 
look  into  the  matter  and  decide  on  the  rights  of  the  case 
.  .  .  and  that  I  would  ask  him  to  accept  the  chief  place 
on  the  Commission.  He  answered  that  he  would  do  so.” 

After  sending  his  reply,  Mr.  Cleveland  proceeded  to 
divest  himself  of  the  holdings  which  he  had  in  the  stock 
of  certain  coal-carrying  railroads,  as  he  was  unwilling 
to  be  a  judge  in  matters  in  which  he  had  a  personal  in- 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE  3 1 1 

terest.  By  this  transaction  he  lost  $2,500,  and  unneces¬ 
sarily,  as  it  developed. 

Had  the  fictitious  millions  which  the  enemy  press  had 
brought  with  him  from  Washington  been  real  millions, 
such  a  sacrifice  would  have  meant  nothing.  But  Mr. 
Cleveland  felt  that  it  was  by  no  means  negligible,  as  he 
regarded  his  savings  as  scarcely  sufficient  for  the  dig¬ 
nified  maintenance  of  his  family.  That  his  more  intimate 
friends  had  a  similar  view  is  shown  by  numerous  letters 
offering  financial  aid,  in  manners  more  or  less  guarded. 
More  than  one  had  suggested  nominal  business  posts  with 
salaries  attached,  and  Andrew  Carnegie  only  a  few 
months  before  had  offered  to  solve  the  difficulty  by  direct 
financial  aid,  an  offer  which  Mr.  Cleveland  declined  in 
the  following  letter : 

Jan.  13 ,  1 902 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Carnegie  : 

I  was  so  touched  and  overcome  by  your  last  letter 
that  it  has  taken  me  some  time  to  fit  myself  to  reply  to  it. 
You  and  I  both  began  to  really  live  late  in  life — that  is 
to  say  we  were  late  in  knowing  the  blessedness  and  joy 
of  wife  and  children,  and  the  homes  they  made  for  us. 
When  I  remind  you  of  this  I  have  an  idea  you  will  under¬ 
stand  me  better  than  other  friends  would,  if  I  say  to 
you  that  it  has  been  with  much  anxiety  that  I  have  looked 
the  “course  of  nature”  in  the  face,  and  contemplated  the 
time  when  the  mother  of  my  children  would  have  to  bear 
the  burden  of  their  care  and  maintenance  alone. 

I  have  never  written  or  said  as  much  as  this  before; 
but  somehow  as  I  have  read  and  reread  your  letter,  it 
has  seemed  to  me  that  something  of  the  kind  must  have 
been  in  your  mind,  and  that  I  ought  to  be  thus  frank 
with  you. 


312 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


So  far  as  the  present  is  concerned,  I  am  getting  on  I 
think  as  well  as  I  deserve.  If  the  law  lately  introduced 
in  Congress,  providing  an  annuity  for  ex-Presidents 
should  pass,  I  would  be  glad,  and  would  without  the 
slightest  compunction  avail  myself  of  it.  Indeed  I  think 
I  should  nearly  feel  that  I  had  earned  what  such  a  law 
would  give  to  me. 

But  how  can  I  ever  bring  myself  to  accept  the  private 
benefaction  you  suggest?  And  how  can  I  take  it  from 
you,  who  in  no  sense  owe  me  anything,  but  have  always 
been  a  disinterested  and  warm  friend?  I  am  asking 
things  of  you  in  these  days.  I  have  just  asked  you  to 
allow  me  to  decline  a  great  honor  you  sought  to  confer 
upon  me;  and  now  I  ask  you  to  allow  me  to  pull  and 
worry  along  in  my  own  way — with  permission  to  go  to 
you,  when  the  Fates  are  so  hard  with  me  that  I  must 
have  a  strong  friendly  hand;  and  whether  I  have  this 
permission  or  not,  let  me  assure  you  that  your  kindness 
and  what  you  have  offered  to  do,  will  always  remain 
among  my  most  cherished  possessions. 

Yours  most  gratefully 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Armed  with  Mr.  Cleveland’s  consent  to  accept  a  place 
on  his  Commission,  Mr.  Roosevelt  now  played  his  trump 
card.  Selecting  as  his  agent  the  ablest  member  of  his 
Cabinet,  Mr.  Elihu  Root,  Secretary  of  War,  he  dis¬ 
patched  him  to  New  York  to  interview  J.  Pierpont  Mor¬ 
gan,  the  man  best  able  to  influence  the  actions  of  the 
operators.  At  ten  o’clock  on  the  evening  of  October  i  ith, 
a  watchful  reporter  from  the  New  York  Herald  saw  a 
boat  put  off  from  the  pier  and  five  minutes  later  a  glass 
showed  the  Secretary  climbing  up  the  side  ladder  to  greet 
Mr.  Morgan,  who  stood  on  the  deck.  But  the  glass  could 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE 


313 

not  give  the  conversation  in  which  Mr.  Root  made  known 
the  President’s  plan  of  an  arbitration  committee,  and 
announced  that  upon  it  among  other  distinguished  names 
would  appear  that  of  a  man  “whose  word  would  have  the 
ear  of  the  nation,  Grover  Cleveland.” 

This  warning  had  the  desired  effect.  The  meeting 
was  followed  by  a  hurried  gathering  of  operators,  who, 
the  next  day,  notified  the  President  that  they  were  ready 
to  submit  all  matters  involved  to  a  commission,  consisting 
of  one  judge  of  the  United  States  Court,  one  engineer  of 
the  army  or  navy,  one  mining  expert,  one  eminent  sociol¬ 
ogist,  and  one  man  experienced  in  mining  and  selling 
coal.  As  arbitration  had  been  Mr.  Mitchell’s  desire 
from  the  beginning,  he  readily  consented,  insisting  only 
that  one  of  the  commissioners  should  come  from  the  ranks 
of  labor. 

Mr.  Cleveland  being  neither  a  judge,  an  engineer,  a 
sociologist  nor  a  mining  expert,  President  Roosevelt  sent 
him  the  following  telegram  and  letter,  and  headed  the 
list  of  commissioners  with  the  name  of  Judge  Gray: 


White  House,  Washington,  D.  C. 

October  I $,  IQ02. 

Hon.  Grover  Cleveland 
Princeton,  N.  J. 

Strictly  personal 

Deeply  grateful  for  your  letter.  Propositions  that 
have  been  made  since  have  totally  changed  situation  so 
that  I  will  not  have  to  make  the  demand  upon  you  which 
three  days  ago  it  seemed  I  would  have  to  for  the  interest 
of  the  Nation.  I  thank  you  most  deeply  and  shall  write 
you  at  length. 


Theodore  Roosevelt. 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


3H 

White  House, 

Washington. 

October  l6,  IQ02. 

Personal. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cleveland  : 

I  appreciated  so  deeply  your  being  willing  to  accept 
that  it  was  very  hard  for  me  to  forego  the  chance  of 
putting  you  on  the  commission.  But  in  order  to  get  the 
vitally  necessary  agreement  between  the  operators  and 
miners  I  found  I  had  to  consult  their  wishes  as  to  the 
types  of  men.  Of  course  I  knew  that  it  was  the  greatest 
relief  to  you  not  to  be  obliged  to  serve,  but  I  did  wish 
to  have  you  on,  in  the  first  place,  because  of  the  weight 
your  name  would  have  lent  the  commission,  and  in  the 
next  place,  because  of  the  effect  upon  our  people,  and 
especially  upon  our  young  men,  of  such  an  example  of 
genuine  self-denying  patriotism — for,  my  dear  sir,  your 
service  would  have  meant  all  of  this.  I  do  not  know 
whether  you  understand  how  heartily  I  thank  you  and 
appreciate  what  you  have  done. 

Faithfully  yours, 

Theodore  Roosevelt. 

Hon.  Grover  Cleveland, 

Princeton,  N.  J. 

President  Roosevelt’s  views  in  regard  to  the  influence 
of  the  ex-President’s  name  were  in  no  wise  exaggerated. 
Even  when  the  denunciations  of  his  enemies  had  been 
loudest,  Mr.  Cleveland  had  had  the  staunch  support  of 
a  great  body  of  men  who  understood  and  appreciated  his 
struggles  to  uphold  the  law  of  the  land,  and  his  public 
activities  of  the  last  few  years  had  but  added  to  the  num¬ 
ber  of  these  admirers  and  increased  the  regard  in  which 
he  was  held  by  the  country  at  large — political  antag- 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE 


3*5 

onists  included.  From  many  were  beginning  to  arise  the 
whisper  that  Grover  Cleveland  was  again  coming  back, 
and  that  he  would  lead  the  Democratic  ranks  to  victory 
in  1904.  “There  appears  to  be  a  strong  and  steadily 
growing  sentiment  in  the  Middle  Western  States  in  favor 
of  your  nomination,”  wrote  Joseph  Garretson,  of  Cin¬ 
cinnati.  “The  Times-Star  has  made  a  great  effort  to 
investigate  this  sentiment,  and  the  general  tenor  of  all 
our  correspondents  is  along  the  line  that  you  are  the  only 
logical  candidate  in  the  field.” 

But  Mr.  Cleveland  brushed  all  such  suggestions  im¬ 
patiently  aside.  To  this  letter  and  the  plea  for  a  few 
words  in  reply,  he  sent  the  following  note : 

Princeton,  February  6,  I  QOS- 
Joseph  Garretson,  Esq. 

Editor,  &c 

Dear  Sir: 

I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  4th  instant  asking 
me  on  behalf  of  the  Times-Star  for  an  expression  regard¬ 
ing  my  intentions  as  related  to  the  next  Democratic  nom¬ 
ination  for  the  Presidency. 

I  cannot  possibly  bring  my  mind  to  the  belief  that  a 
condition  of  sentiment  exists  that  makes  any  expression 
from  me  on  the  subject  of  the  least  importance. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

This  cryptic  utterance  was  interpreted  by  the  press 
as  indicating  a  spirit  of  submission  should  the  people 
call  again.  “His  letter  ...  to  an  Ohio  newspaper,” 
commented  the  New  York  Times ,  “  ...  is  taken  as  an 
assurance  that  at  the  proper  time  the  reformer  Buffalo- 
nian  will  enter  the  field.”  The  papers  in  other  sections, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


316 

too,  took  up  the  theme,  and,  lacking  facts,  printed  fiction, 
some  stating  positively  that  he  would  run  again,  others 
as  positively  that  he  would  not.  To  such  as  came  to  his 
notice  Mr.  Cleveland  dealt  out  such  stinging  reproofs  as 
the  following: 

“Words  have  been  put  in  my  mouth  which  entirely 
misrepresent  my  position  in  politics.  I  never  said  I 
had  retired  from  active  politics  to  act  as  the  party’s 
adviser.  To  be  thus  pictured  as  an  old  Brahmin  seated 
in  the  background  and  aspiring  to  manage  things  my  own 
way  is  alike  distasteful  to  me  and  absolutely  false  as  to 
my  true  position.” 

His  true  position  was  never  in  doubt  among  his 
friends,  to  whom  he  repeatedly  declared  that  no  conceiv¬ 
able  condition  could  tempt  him  back  into  public  life. 
“There  is  nothing  that  presents  anything  like  the  same 
allurement  to  me,”  he  wrote  to  Commodore  Benedict, 
“as  a  retreat  somewhere  that  would  give  me  freedom 
from  nagging  annoyances  and  exhausting  importunities.” 
And  later:  “It  seems  to  me  .  .  .  that  I  have  expressed 
myself  with  sufficient  clearness  to  enable  all  who  believe 
in  my  sincerity,  to  understand  how  settled  is  my  deter¬ 
mination  to  spend  the  remainder  of  my  life  in  the  ranks 
of  private  citizenship.  I  can  understand  why  the  dirty 
little  scoundrel  who  is  allowed  to  scatter  filth  through  the 
columns  of  the  Louisville  Courier-Journal ,  and  a  few  vile 
imitators,  pretend  to  understand  me;  and  I  am  not  in¬ 
clined  to  give  them  the  satisfaction  of  plainer  speech.  I 
doubt  if  the  time  will  ever  come  when  a  more  explicit 
declaration  will  be  necessary  for  the  satisfaction  of  my 
friends  and  the  decent  people  of  the  country.  When  in 
my  judgment  that  time  has  arrived,  such  a  declaration,  in 
my  own  way,  will  be  forthcoming.” 

Had  he  known,  as  others  knew,  that  the  tide  of  public 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE 


317 

sentiment  had  turned  toward  him,  he  would  doubtless 
have  been  more  patient  with  those  who  persisted  in  the 
belief  that  he  would  be  a  candidate  for  the  fourth  time 
in  1904,  for  even  Tammany  Hall  showed  a  realization  of 
the  fact  that  this  political  Samson’s  hair  was  growing. 
At  the  Jefferson  banquet  on  April  13,  1903,  eight  hundred 
braves,  who  had  evinced  little  interest  when  letters  from 
Hill  and  Bryan  were  read,  leaped  to  their  feet  with 
cheers  for  “the  next  President,”  when  the  toastmaster 
read  a  simple  note  of  regrets  from  Grover  Cleveland. 
The  cheers  of  Tammany  Hall,  however,  affected  him  no 
more  than  had  its  curses.  He  believed  that  the  people’s 
faces  were  turned  from  him,  and  the  belief  was  gall  and 
wormwood. 

But  a  revelation  was  in  store  for  him,  and  at  no  distant 
date.  With  great  reluctance  he  had  yielded  to  the 
demands  of  his  friends  and  had  promised  to  attend  the 
opening  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  at 
St.  Louis,  on  April  30th.  Before  leaving  he  wrote  to 
ask  Mr.  Dickinson’s  advice  as  to  whether  the  time  had 
arrived  to  announce  his  determination  not  to  run  again. 
To  which  Mr.  Dickinson  replied:  “I  cannot  say  what 
you  would  like  me  to  say.  ...  I  feel  that  it  ought  not  to 
be  said  just  now,  much  as  you  are  assailed  by  the  Ass  of 
Nebraska  and  others  less  worthy  than  he.  .  .  .  Recently 
in  the  South,  I  heard  his  name  spoken,  and  spoke  it  when 
not  otherwise  called  out,  and  it  was  invariably  received 
with  a  cuss.  .  .  .  Men  of  good  standing  .  .  .  who  were 
regular  in  1896  and  1900,  as  I  know ,  are  saying  that  they 
have  been  Democratic  all  their  lives  but  ‘Bryanism  was 
not  Democracy  and  I  helped  kill  it,’  and  so  on.  The 
President’s  popularity  [too]  is  waning  remarkably.”  The 
letter  urged  him  not  to  drive  his  friends  into  the  arms 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


3l8 

of  the  Republicans:  “If  you  speak  now,”  it  declared, 
“just  about  that  will  happen.” 

Acting  upon  this  advice,  Mr.  Cleveland  continued  to 
deny  to  the  public  any  declaration  of  his  intention,  and 
on  the  appointed  day  started  to  St.  Louis.  All  along  the 
line,  in  the  various  states  through  which  the  train  passed, 
the  entire  population  seemed  to  have  gathered  to  see  and 
cheer  the  ex-President,  but  their  enthusiasm  only  puzzled 
him;  he  did  not  know  that  the  day  of  the  shadow  had 
passed.  That  knowledge  was  soon  to  come.  Standing 
beside  President  Roosevelt  on  the  platform  at  St.  Louis, 
he  received  in  one  great  thunder  of  applause  the  whole¬ 
hearted  plaudits  of  his  fellow  countrymen,  and  the  sound 
was  a  healing  balm  to  his  wounded  spirit.  The  scene  is 
described  in  the  following  editorial  sent  him  a  few  days 
later  from  Electra,  Texas. 

“Mr.  Cleveland  so  far  overshadowed  President 
Roosevelt  in  popular  applause,  when  both  stood  on  the 
same  platform,  as  to  make  the  latter  feel  aggrieved.  With 
every  department  of  the  administration  on  the  platform, 
and  a  former  Republican  National  Committee  chairman 
acting  as  the  spokesman  of  the  occasion;  with  Governor 
Odell,  of  New  York,  at  his  feet,  and  Senator  Hanna  at 
his  back;  and  with  a  circle  of  distinguished  Republicans 
all  around  him,  Mr.  Roosevelt,  the  President,  ought 
easily  to  have  drawn  out  the  most  vociferous  and  con¬ 
tinued  applause  when  he  stood  before  the  multitude  at 
St.  Louis  last  Thursday.  Yet  when  he  sat  down  and 
Grover  Cleveland,  the  private  citizen,  arose,  the  crowd, 
on  the  platform,  and  out  in  front,  so  instantly  and  so 
vigorously  applauded,  and  so  wildly  manifested  delight, 
that  the  President’s  greetings  a  few  minutes  before 
seemed  like  a  whisper  compared  with  a  long-continued 


THE  TURN  OF  THE  TIDE 


3*9 

peal  of  thunder.  It  was  an  unexpected,  instantaneous, 
generous,  unmistakable  ovation.  It  indicated  clearly  the 
state  of  the  public  mind  toward  the  ex-President.  It  was 
a  revelation  to  the  politicians.  It  was  an  eye-opener  to 
the  anti-Cleveland  Democrats.  It  was  a  warning  to  the 
Roosevelt  Republicans.  It  was  plainly  the  voice  of  pub¬ 
lic  sentiment,  and  it  thrust  Grover  Cleveland  to  the  front 
as  the  strongest  man  in  American  politics  to-day.” 

This  editorial  bears  the  marks  of  contemporary  pol¬ 
itics,  and  is,  therefore,  unfair  to  the  memory  of  the  great 
statesman  whom  it  sought  to  belittle  in  order  to  gain 
additional  glory  for  another  great  statesman  whom  it 
rightly  desired  to  honor.  Mr.  Roosevelt  himself,  several 
years  later,  described  the  scene  with  as  frank  an  enthusi¬ 
asm  as  that  shown  by  the  editor  in  question:  “I  was  at 
St.  Louis  as  President  when  Mr.  Cleveland,  then  a  plain 
private  citizen,  arose  to  make  an  address  in  the  great  hall 
of  the  Exposition;  and  no  one  who  was  there  will  ever 
forget  the  extraordinary  reception  given  him  by  the 
scores  of  thousands  present.  It  was  an  extraordinary 
testimony  to  the  esteem  and  regard  in  which  he  was  held, 
an  extraordinary  testimony  to  the  fact  that  the  American 
people  had  not  forgotten  him,  and,  looking  back,  had 
recognized  in  him  a  man  who  with  straightforward 
directness  had  sought  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  serve  their 
interests.” 

To  Mr.  Cleveland,  more  than  to  any  other  soul  in  that 
vast  assemblage,  this  overwhelming  reception  at  the  hands 
of  an  audience  gathered  from  every  part  of  the  world 
was  a  revelation.  Suddenly,  without  a  shaft  of  light  to 
warn  him  of  its  coming,  the  full  noonday  sun  had  broken 
through  the  black  clouds  that  for  years  had  covered  his 
sky  from  horizon  to  horizon.  At  last  he  knew  that  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


320 

tide  had  turned;  that  the  people  whom  he  loved,  and 
whom  he  had  served  with  so  unselfish  and  so  untiring  a 
devotion  were  again  his  friends.  The  joy  that  came  to 
him  with  the  knowledge  lasted  throughout  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  “From  that  moment,”  declared  his  wife,  “he 
was  a  different  man.” 


CHAPTER  XII 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904 

"Men  and  times  change ,  but  principles — never!’ 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

MR.  CLEVELAND  left  the  St.  Louis  Exposition 
with  a  new  joy  in  the  realization  of  the  people’s 
confidence,  but  with  no  new  ambitions.  He  still  did  not 
desire  the  nomination,  but  he  delighted  in  the  effect  of 
third  term  talk  upon  Mr.  Bryan.  On  May  8th  he  sent 
Mr.  Gilder  a  cartoon  by  McCutcheon,  showing  four 
successive  expressions  upon  his  own  face  as  he  was  inter¬ 
viewed  by  four  successive  reporters.  In  the  background 
stand  the  figures  of  Bryan  and  Watterson,  whose  expres¬ 
sions  change  as  Mr.  Cleveland’s  change.  “I  find  in  the 
situation,”  reads  the  accompanying  letter,  “two  satisfac¬ 
tory  things — the  hopping  and  jumping  in  certain  cages 
of  Democratic  zoological  specimens,  and  the  belief  that 
the  Democratic  party  will  get  a  hint  that  no  Bryanism 
or  Bryan  conciliation  will  get  enough  votes  to  do  the 
business.” 

On  that  same  day  “the  faithful”  read  in  Bryan’s  news¬ 
paper,  the  Commoner,  a  two-page  editorial  of  denunci¬ 
ation  of  the  ex-President  as  “an  office-boy  in  a  Wall 
Street  institution  .  .  .  the  logical  candidate  for  the 
Presidency  in  case  the  Democratic  party  returns  to  its 
wallow  in  the  mire.  .  .  .  He  has  been  faithful  to  the 
financial  interests  that  made  him  and  have  kept  him,  and 
if  those  interests  are  to  dominate  the  Democratic  party  it 

321 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


322 

would  be  unfair  to  deny  to  him  the  honor  of  being  their 
representative.  The  third-term  objection  will  have  no 
influence  upon  those  who  are  in  sympathy  with  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  masters,  for  those  who  see  no  objection  to 
making  the  White  House  the  rendezvous  for  financial 
conspirators  against  the  public,  who  will  not  be  disturbed 
by  the  fear  of  continued  authority  in  one  man,  the  men 
who  are  willing  to  risk  imperialism  to  secure  the  gold 
standard,  would  keep  a  President  in  power  for  life  if 
they  thought  it  would  keep  the  control  of  the  government 
in  the  hands  of  the  financiers.  The  logic  of  events  is 
forcing  Mr.  Cleveland  more  and  more  into  the  leader¬ 
ship  of  the  reorganizing  element.  The  New  York  World 
suggested  him  some  months  ago,  and  now  the  Brooklyn 
Eagle  has  withdrawn  Mr.  Parker  and  suggested  Mr. 
Cleveland  as  the  proper  presidential  candidate.” 

This  editorial  served  as  the  caisson  from  which  the 
petty  officers  of  “Bogus  Democracy”  at  once  drew  am¬ 
munition  for  further  attacks.  In  the  opinion  of  the 
Cleveland  Democrats,  however,  they  drew  “duds,”  and 
on  May  13th  Lamont  gleefully  wrote  to  St.  Clair 
McKelway:  “The  more  the  papers  and  the  politicians 
discuss  Cleveland,  the  smaller  Bryan  will  grow,  and  they 
will  get  the  habit  of  demanding  the  Cleveland  type  of 
President.  Therefore,  I  have  written  him,  urging  him 
to  say  nothing  at  present.” 

During  the  summer,  amid  the  delights  of  Gray 
Gables,  it  was  comparatively  easy  to  say  nothing  about 
politics,  for  other  and  more  attractive  thoughts  engaged 
his  attention.  On  July  4th  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Gilder:  “I 
am  waiting  for  a  new  census  report  of  the  Cleveland 
race,  which  I  expect  will  be  in  order  within  the  next  two 
or  three  days.”  And  to  Commodore  Benedict,  eleven 
days  later: 


323 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904 

Buzzards  Bay 
July  15, 1  go 3 . 

Dear  Commodore: 

I  received  your  letter  a  few  days  ago  and  was  glad 
to  know  that  we  might  expect  to  see  you  soon.  I  cannot 
refrain  from  saying  to  you,  however,  that  there  are  two 
conditions  now  existing  which  I  would  like  to  see  changed 
before  you  come.  One  is  the  state  of  expectancy  and 
anxiety  which  the  hover  of  the  stork  over  our  house  cre¬ 
ates;  and  the  other  is  the  abominable  fishing  here  just  at 
this  time.  Both  of  these  conditions  will,  I  hope,  give 
way  for  better  before  very  long. 

We  have  not  been  on  the  Bay  to  fish  since  the  Doctor 
arrived.  The  fishing  is  not  good  enough  to  be  tempting, 
and  I  guess  we  both  feel  like  keeping  fairly  near  home. 
The  Doctor  has  been  working  in  the  hay  all  day  and  I 
have  been  trying  to  keep  warm  at  home. 

We  may  go  out  a  little  while  to-morrow  morning  and 
try  Rocky  Point  near  home  for  squeteague.  I  will  keep 
you  posted  as  to  the  fish  and  the  other  event;  and  when 
conditions  assume  a  more  favorable  aspect  I  will 
promptly  give  you  the  word. 

With  love  to  Mrs.  Benedict,  I  am 

Yours  very  sincerely 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Com.  E.  C.  Benedict 

80  Broadway,  New  York 

Within  three  days  the  stork  had  descended,  and  the 
ex-President,  father  of  a  second  boy,  wrote  to  Mrs.  John 
Grier  Hibben,  wife  of  the  future  President  of  Princeton: 


324 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Buzzards  Bay 
July  1 8 ,  IQ03 . 

My  dear  Mrs.  Hibben: 

I  sent  you  a  telegram  this  morning  that  a  tramp  boy 
had  trespassed  upon  our  premises.  He  was  first  seen  and 
heard  at  10  o’clock  A.  M.  (I  hear  him  now),  and  I  sent 
the  dispatch  a  few  moments  thereafter,  to  Redfield 
where,  according  to  the  itinerary  you  sent  me,  you  were 
to  be  from  the  5th  to  the  20th  instant.  I  have  heard  since 
that  there  was  difficulty  in  transmitting  the  dispatch  from 
Camden  to  Redfield;  and  I  shall  not  be  surprised  if  this 
letter  or  the  newspapers  give  you  the  first  information 
touching  to-day’s  important  event. 

The  shameless  naked  little  scoundrel  weighed  over 
9  pounds.  Richard  was  very  much  tickled  as  long  as  he 
thought  it  was  something  in  the  doll  line,  and  was  quite 
overcome  with  laughter  when  he  found  it  was  “a  real 
baby.”  He  and  I  have  been  planning  for  the  amusement 
of  the  newcomer  when  he  shall  arrive  at  Richard’s  pres¬ 
ent  age.  He  denies  with  considerable  warmth  any 
intention  of  taking  him  by  the  hair  and  throwing  him 
down.  In  point  of  fact  we  have  agreed  upon  no  par¬ 
ticular  line  of  conduct,  except  an  engagement  on  Rich¬ 
ards’  part  to  teach  the  young  brother  to  swim  if  all  goes 
well. 

The  dear  Mother  is  as  well  apparently,  as  possible; 
and  seems  to  me  very  self-conceitedly  happy — as  if  she 
thought  she  had  done  a  good  job. 

She  sends  her  love — and  so  do  I.  And  we  both 
include  the  Professor. 

Yours  very  sincerely 

Grover  Cleveland. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  325 

To  his  neighbors  at  Buzzards  Bay  he  announced  the 
good  news  with  even  more  elaboration : 

“It  may  possibly  be  that  some  of  you  are  aware  of  a 
very  recent  event  in  my  household  which  has  increased 
by  one  the  present  population  of  the  town  of  Bourne, 
and  has  also  added  another  to  the  future  fishermen  in 
Buzzards  Bay.  This  newcomer  was  weighed  on  the 
scales  I  use  for  weighing  the  fish  I  catch;  and  he  regis¬ 
tered  nine  pounds  and  a  half.  That’s  not  a  wonderful 
weight  for  a  child.  For  a  fish  it  would  be  all  right  and 
among  fishermen  no  explanation  need  be  made.  But  it 
was  not  a  fish  that  was  weighed,  and  others  besides  fisher¬ 
men  have  an  interest  in  the  truthfulness  of  all  that  per¬ 
tains  to  the  vital  statistics  of  Bourne  Township. 
Therefore  I  take  this  opportunity  to  say  that  the  nine 
and  a  half  pounds  registered  on  my  fishing  scales  honestly 
means  nine  pounds — no  more  and  no  less.  The  extra  half 
pound  is  a  matter  of  special  and  private  arrangement 
between  me  and  the  scales.  By  this  statement  I  satisfy 
all  my  conscientious  scruples  and  disdain  any  attempt  to 
gain  credit  for  half  a  pound  more  increase  in  population 
than  I  am  entitled  to. 

“It  must  not  be  for  a  moment  supposed  that  my  fish 
weighing  scales  are  unique  in  the  particular  referred  to, 
nor  that  I  am  by  any  means  the  only  fisherman  who 
resorts  to  such  a  mechanical  contrivance  to  substantiate 
his  stories.  The  fact  is,  anything  I  have  done  in  that 
direction  may  be  regarded  as  frivolous  when  compared 
with  other  transactions  of  a  like  character.  In  proof  of 
this  let  me  cite  an  instance  of  a  medical  fisherman 
who,  having  provided  himself  with  one  of  these  fish 
story  supporting  appliances,  was  called  while  on  a  fishing 
trip  in  a  remote  region  with  a  party  of  companions,  to 


326  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

attend  the  wife  of  one  of  the  few  inhabitants  of  the  local¬ 
ity  in  the  pains  and  perils  of  maternity.  The  child,  it 
was  insisted  by  the  parents  and  all  cognizant  of  its 
advent,  must  be  weighed;  and  no  scales  but  the  Doctor’s 
fish  scales  were  at  hand.  After  some  demur  on  his  part 
they  were  finally  pressed  into  the  service,  with  the 
astounding  result  that  quite  an  ordinary  looking  new¬ 
born  infant  was  found  to  weigh  nineteen  pounds  and  a 
half.” 

Shortly  after  his  return  to  Princeton,  his  most  in¬ 
timate  friend,  Wilson  S.  Bissell,  died,  and  to  Commodore 
Benedict  he  wrote:  “Bissell’s  death  is  another  reminder 
.  .  .  that  the  shafts  are  flying.”  But,  though  saddened  by 
the  loss,  he  was  by  no  means  inclined  to  chronic  melan¬ 
choly,  and  his  native  wit  often  enabled  him  to  baffle 
inquisitive  reporters  and  maintain  the  sphinx-like  silence 
enjoined  by  his  friends.  At  Chicago,  about  the  middle 
of  October,  when  compelled  out  of  consideration  to  his 
host,  Mr.  Eckels,  to  make  some  reply  to  a  group  of  eager 
questioners  seeking  a  headline  concerning  the  coming 
presidential  campaign,  he  told  the  following  story: 

“A  friend  of  mine  went  with  me  on  one  of  my  recent 
duck-shooting  expeditions.  Two  ducks  rose  over  our 
heads.  One  had  a  white  breast  and  the  other  a  brown 
one.  They  were  plainly  marked.  As  I  raised  my  gun  to 
fire,  my  friend  said: 

“  ‘Mr.  Cleveland,  I  have  named  one  of  those  ducks 
Nomination.’ 

“I  fired  and  one  duck  fell.”  Here  Mr.  Cleveland 
paused. 

“Which  duck  came  down?”  demanded  his  hearers 
breathlessly.  But  Mr.  Cleveland  only  smiled. 

At  length,  however,  he  sent  to  St.  Clair  McKelway 
the  following  letter  with  leave  to  print: 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  32 7 

Princeton,  November  25,  IQ03 . 
My  dear  Dr.  McKelway  : 

I  have  waited  for  a  long  time  to  say  something  which 
I  think  should  be  said  to  you  before  others. 

You  can  never  know  how  grateful  I  am  for  the  mani¬ 
festation  of  kindly  feeling  toward  me,  on  the  part  of  my 
countrymen,  which  your  initiative  has  brought  out.  Your 
advocacy  in  the  Eagle  of  my  nomination  for  the  Presi¬ 
dency  came  to  me  as  a  great  surprise;  and  it  has  been 
seconded  in  such  manner  by  Democratic  sentiment,  that 
conflicting  thoughts  of  gratitude  and  duty  have  caused 
me  to  hesitate  as  to  the  time  and  manner  of  a  declaration 
on  my  part  concerning  the  subject — if  such  a  declaration 
should  seem  necessary  or  proper. 

In  the  midst  of  it  all,  and  in  full  view  of  every  con¬ 
sideration  presented,  I  have  not  for  a  moment  been  able, 
nor  am  I  now  able,  to  open  my  mind  to  the  thought  that 
in  any  circumstances  or  upon  any  consideration,  I  should 
ever  again  become  the  nominee  of  my  party  for  the 
Presidency.  My  determination  not  to  do  so  is  unalter¬ 
able  and  conclusive. 

This  you  at  least  ought  to  know  from  me;  and  I 
should  be  glad  if  the  Eagle  were  made  the  medium  of  its 
conveyance  to  the  public. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

St.  Clair  McKelway,  LL.D. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Six  weeks  later,  on  January  6,  1904,  his  daughter 
Ruth,  died  of  diphtheria,  and  his  grief  dwarfed  all  else. 
Her  death  was  most  unexpected,  as  his  diary  shows : 

January  2d,  “Ruth  is  a  little  sick  with  tonsillitis.” 

January  3rd,  “Ruth  still  sick,  but  better.” 


328 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


January  6th,  “Doctor  said  this  morning  Ruth  had 
diphtheria  .  .  .  a  trained  nurse  came  at  5  125.  Prof.  West 
was  here.  Dr.  treated  us  all  with  antitoxin  and  reported 
that  Ruth  was  getting  on  well.  Houghton  Murray  came 
in  the  evening  and  we  played  cribbage  until  12.  At  2 
o’clock  in  the  night  word  came  .  .  .  that  Ruth  was  not 
so  well.  Dr.  Carnochan  came  at  2:30  and  Dr.  Wykoff 
at  3:30.  We  had  been  excluded  from  Ruth’s  room,  but 
learned  that  dear  Ruth  died  before  Dr.  Wykoff  came, 
probably  about  3  o’clock  A.  M.,  Jan.  7th.” 

January  8th  [in  a  trembling,  almost  illegible  hand], 
“We  buried  our  daughter,  Ruth,  this  morning.” 

Deep  natures  suffer  long,  and  the  memory  of  that 
little  grave  in  the  old  Princeton  Cemetery  haunted  him, 
despite  his  deep  religious  faith.  On  January  10th,  he 
wrote,  “I  had  a  season  of  great  trouble  in  keeping  out 
of  my  mind  the  idea  that  Ruth  was  in  the  cold,  cheerless 
grave  instead  of  in  the  arms  of  her  Saviour.”  And  the 
next  day,  “It  seems  to  me  I  mourn  our  darling  Ruth’s 
death  more  and  more.  So  much  of  the  time  I  can  only 
think  of  her  as  dead,  not  joyfully  living  in  Heaven.”  On 
the  15th  the  diary  declares:  “God  has  come  to  my  help 
and  I  am  able  to  adjust  my  thought  to  dear  Ruth’s  death 
with  as  much  comfort  as  selfish  humanity  will  permit. 
One  thing  I  can  say:  Not  for  one  moment  since  she  left 
us  has  a  rebellious  thought  entered  my  mind.”  “It  seems 
so  long  since  we  buried  Ruth,”  he  wrote  to  Commodore 
Benedict,  on  February  20th,  “and  yet  it  is  only  six  weeks 
yesterday.  We  are  becoming  accustomed  to  her  absence. 
For  the  rest  of  it  we  have  not  a  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  it 
is  well  with  the  child.” 

So  deep  was  the  impression  made  by  the  loss  of  this 
daughter,  whose  intelligence  and  personal  charm  had 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  329 

made  her  the  life  of  the  household,  that  his  friends 
advised  him  to  divert  his  mind  by  re-entering  politics. 
Nathan  Straus  wrote:  a While  I  have  all  along  been  very 
much  averse,  purely  through  a  friendly  feeling,  to  your 
being  again  drawn  into  politics,  I  have  changed  my 
opinion  since  you  have  met  with  the  misfortune  that  has 
visited  you.  Nothing  but  time  can  heal  such  a  wound 
as  you  have  received;  but  a  change  of  scene,  an  active 
life,  the  compelling  of  thoughts  in  other  directions  would 
naturally  leave  you  less  time  to  dwell  upon  your  sorrow. 
.  .  .  A  short  time  ago  I  met  Mr.  Carlisle  and  told  him 
how  I  felt  about  the  matter,  and  he  agreed  with  me  and 
expressed  the  same  sentiments.  Further  than  this, 
wherever  I  speak  of  it,  and  to  whomever  I  speak  of  it, 
I  get  only  one  reply,  that  the  only  hope  of  the  success 
of  the  Democratic  party  lies  in  you.  I  fully  agree  .  .  . 
that  you  are  the  only  man  the  Democrats  can  elect  against 
Mr.  Roosevelt.” 

Mr.  Straus  also  quoted  a  conversation  between  Mr. 
J.  S.  Cram,  of  Tammany  Hall,  and  Mr.  Stillman,  in 
which  the  latter  said:  “If  you  will  nominate  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land,  I  will  personally  see  that  there  is  a  fund  raised 
bigger  than  was  raised  at  the  time  McKinley  was  elected, 
and  you  know  when  he  ran  they  had  more  money  than 
they  could  use.” 

Tammany’s  friendly  attitude  toward  the  idea  was  ex¬ 
pressed  by  Murphy  to  Lamont,  who  in  turn  reported  it 
to  the  ex-President: 

Wednesday  Evening,  February  10,  IQ04 . 

2  West  Fifty-Third  Street 

My  dear  Mr.  President: 

Murphy  whom  I  had  never  seen  before  called  on  me 
yesterday  afternoon.  He  came  alone  and  said  he  wanted 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


330 

to  get  in  touch  with  me  so  that  he  could  confer  with  me 
about  national  politics.  I  was  greatly  pleased  with 
him  because  he  is  evidently  a  man  of  sense  and  wants 
to  put  his  organization  to  the  front  for  the  best  in  the 
party. 

He  is  honest  in  his  talk  about  you  and  says  if  it  can’t 
be  Cleveland,  “then  let’s  get  the  nearest  to  him  that  can 
be  found.”  I  advised  him  to  fight  down  any  instructions 
and  to  take  his  delegation  to  the  convention  with  the 
announcement  that  New  York  was  there  to  confer  and  to 
bring  about  the  strongest  nomination  possible.  He  gives 
out  to-night  just  about  what  I  said  to  him.  He  says  you 
would  be  elected  without  question,  and  to  some  things 
I  said  to  him  in  response  to  that  he  answered,  “Then  do 
ask  Mr.  Cleveland  to  do  no  further  declining  now.  Let’s 
have  the  benefit  of  his  name  to  round  up  a  Cleveland 
party  and  all  will  agree  on  a  Cleveland  candidate.”  He 
is  opposed  to  Parker — because  he  says  there  is  nothing  in 
Parker  to  campaign  on;  he  is  against  Gorman  and  he 
says  he  would  have  no  idea  of  McClellan  for  such  a 
place.  Bryan  he  says  should  be  absolutely  turned  down 
and  ignored.  .  .  .  He  has  no  patience  with  anybody  who 
wants  to  placate  Bryan.  As  for  Hearst,  he  says  he  cuts 
no  figure  whatever. 

I  have  never  seen  a  leader  of  Tammany  Hall  talk  as 
well  about  things  as  this  man  does.  You  will  be  in¬ 
terested  in  my  story  of  his  visit  when  I  see  you. 

I  hope  you  got  home  safely  and  that  your  trip  did 
you  no  harm.  I  wish  you  would  come  oftener.  The 
seeing  you  did  us  all  great  good,  especially  Mrs.  Lamont. 
My  love  to  all. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Daniel  S.  Lamont. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  33 1 

The  newspaper  statement,  to  which  Lamont  refers, 
reads  as  follows: 

“Charles  F.  Murphy  to-day  practically  disposed  of 
the  Parker  presidential  boom,  so  far  as  New  York  is 
concerned.  He  volunteered  a  denial  of  reports  that  he 
was  really  for  Parker,  and  declared  emphatically  that 
he  would  fight  to  a  finish  any  plan  to  instruct  the  dele¬ 
gates  from  New  York  State  to  the  Democratic  National 
Convention.  He  also  made  it  plain  that  Parker  will 
not  figure  in  the  national  convention  as  New  York’s 
candidate  at  any  stage  of  the  proceedings  if  he  (Murphy) 
has  anything  to  say  about  it;  and  he  thinks  he  will  have 
a  great  deal  to  say  about  it. 

“Murphy  was  moved  to  talk  about  the  Parker  boom 
by  reports  from  Albany  that,  at  a  dinner  there  last  night, 
which  Judge  Parker  attended,  Tammany  senators  and 
assemblymen  shouted  for  Parker  and  voted  for  him  on  a 
mock  ballot.  .  .  .  The  Tammany  leader  did  not  say  it  in 
so  many  words,  but  he  plainly  implied  that  nobody  would 
have  a  chance  to  vote  for  Parker  next  November.  .  .  . 
He  volunteered  this  statement:  T  hear  that  it  is  reported 
up  the  State  that  I  have  been  speaking  favorably  of  Mr. 
Cleveland  by  agreement  with  certain  persons,  and  that 
I  am  using  Cleveland  just  now  to  conceal  my  purpose  of 
bringing  about  the  nomination  of  Judge  Parker.  I  wish 
to  say  that  these  reports  are  absolutely  untrue.  As  I  have 
said  more  than  once,  I  think  Mr.  Cleveland  is  the  strong¬ 
est  man  that  could  be  named,  and  I  mean  it.  I  am  not 
committed  to  Cleveland  or  anybody  else,  however,  and 
I  certainly  have  not  made  any  agreement  with  anybody 
to  send  the  New  York  delegation  to  the  national  con¬ 
vention  with  instructions  to  support  Judge  Parker.  I 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


332 

am  opposed  to  instructions  by  the  convention  for  any 
candidate,  and  I  will  go  into  the  convention  and  fight  any 
effort  to  instruct.  I  don’t  believe  in  instructions.  .  .  .’ 

“This  declaration  is  plainly  a  notice  served  by 
Murphy  on  David  B.  Hill  and  his  friends  that  Judge 
Parker  cannot  be  put  forward  as  New  York’s  candidate 
at  the  spring  convention,  and  that  any  attempt  to  do  so 
will  result  in  a  fight  in  the  convention.  The  outcome  of 
such  a  fight,  Murphy’s  friends  say,  would  not  be  doubt¬ 
ful.  They  assert  that  he  will  have  a  considerable  ma¬ 
jority  in  the  convention,  and  that  the  Parker  boomers 
will  be  suppressed  in  quick  order.  It  was  also  asserted 
at  Tammany  Hall  to-day  that  if  any  attempt  is  made  to 
instruct  for  Parker,  Murphy  will  not  permit  David  B. 
Hill  to  go  to  St.  Louis  as  a  delegate-at-large. 

“The  Tammany  senators  and  assemblymen  who 
shouted  for  Parker  last  night,  under  the  influence  of 
good  cheer  at  a  particularly  cheery  place — ‘The  Tub’ — 
will  hear  something  not  to  their  advantage  by  calling  at 
Tammany  Hall  when  they  come  down  from  Albany  on 
Friday.  Murphy  does  not  seem  to  be  able  to  appreciate 
the  humor  of  that  vote  for  Parker,  and  there  is  such  a 
thing  as  ‘discipline’  in  Tammany  Hall.” 

A  few  weeks  later,  the  Honorable  James  Smith,  Jr., 
Democratic  boss  of  New  Jersey,  called  at  Westland  to 
urge  the  ex-President  to  enter  the  race;  but  he  was  met 
by  a  firm  refusal. 

Mr.  Cleveland’s  letters  and  conversations  of  this 
period  are  full  of  hopes  and  fears,  speculations,  and  at 
times  lamentations,  as  he  watched  the  uncertain  progress 
of  the  party  of  his  devotion  struggling  toward  the  light. 
In  reply  to  Lamont’s  letter,  he  wrote: 


3.33 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904 

Princeton,  Feby.  18 ,  IQ04 . 

My  dear  Colonel: 

I  was  very  glad  to  iearn  from  your  letter  that  you  had 
met  Mr.  Murphy  and  that  your  favorable  impression  of 
him  agreed  with  that  made  upon  me  by  a  moment’s  chat 
with  him  a  long  time  ago.  It  is  exceedingly  fortunate 
that  he  is  at  the  head  of  Tammany  at  this  critical  time  for 
Democracy,  and  so  far  as  I  can  now  see  it  is  also  fortu¬ 
nate  that  McClellan  is  Mayor,  and  our  old  friend 
McAdoo  at  the  head  of  New  York’s  Police  Department. 

Under  all  the  circumstances  Murphy’s  idea  of  an 
uninstructed  New  York  delegation  to  St.  Louis  is  very 
wise,  and  I  hope  he  will  inexorably  insist  upon  it.  I 
wish  I  could  look  differently  upon  Parker’s  candidacy, 
but  what  you  write  of  Murphy’s  opinion  on  that  subject, 
exactly  expresses  my  feeling. 

As  matters  now  stand  I  hope  to  see  a  growth  in  the 
sentiment  towards  Olney  or  Gray. 

I  note  what  you  write  about  the  hope  expressed  in 
your  interview  with  Murphy  that  I  “do  no  further  de¬ 
clining  now.” 

I  am  willing  to  be  silent  up  to  the  point  that  continued 
silence  might  be  construed  as  indicating  a  departure 
from  my  expressed  determination  not  to  be  a  candidate, 
or  until  such  silence  will  subject  me  to  the  accusation  of 
misleading  my  good  friends. 

I  see  the  Herald  this  morning  publishes  a  part  of  my 
political  article  which  is  to  appear  in  the  Saturday  Even¬ 
ing  Post . 

I  have  had  some  misgivings  about  the  wisdom  or  pro¬ 
priety  of  that  utterance;  but  I  am  entirely  reassured  when 
I  hear  so  much  about  Bryan-Hearst  nonsense  and  when 
I  recall  my  right  to  have  my  position  understood  as  un- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


334 

compromisingly  opposed  to  Democratic  suicide.  I  will 
have  no  part  or  lot  in  such  a  crime. 

I  enjoyed  my  visit  with  you  very  much  indeed.  It 
seemed  like  old  times;  and  I  want  to  thank  you  for  the 
time  you  spent  for  my  convenience  and  comfort. 

With  love  from  Mrs.  Cleveland  and  me  to  both  you 
and  Mrs.  Lamont,  I  am 

Yours  faithfully 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  D.  S.  Lamont 

No.  2  West  53d  St.,  New  York. 

And  ten  days  later: 

Dear  Colonel: 

My  notion  is  that  if  there  is  to  be  an  effort  to  get  our 
party  in  any  kind  of  promising  shape  there  ought  to  be 
a  movement  in  a  hard-headed  sensible  way.  Perhaps 
Parker  has  such  a  start  that  he  would  be  the  best  one  to 
concentrate  on.  You  know  my  idea  has  been  that  Olney 
or  Gray  would  suit  present  conditions  best. 

I  want  you  to  tell  all  who  talk  “Cleveland”  non¬ 
sense  that  it  is  a  waste  of  time  that  might  be  profitably 
spent  in  other  ways. 

I  would  not  accept  a  nomination  if  it  was  tendered 
to  me — which  of  course  it  cannot  be — and  I  don’t  want 
to  be  considered  as  a  defeated  candidate  for  nomination. 

I  am  content.  I  want  to  see  the  party  succeed,  but  I 
hope  there  will  be  no  idea  of  playing  any  kind  of  trick 
on  me. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  D.  S.  Lamont, 

2  West  53rd  St.,  New  York. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  335 

The  insistence  of  his  friends  in  no  way  affected  his 
determination  to  remain  on  the  side  lines,  but  their  plead¬ 
ing  pleased  him,  and  his  eagerness  for  party  success  was 
intense.  He  watched  with  expert  eye  the  uncertain  drift¬ 
ing  of  the  bark  once  so  steady  in  his  own  guiding  hand, 
and  his  comments  regarding  possible  candidates  of  both 
parties  were  frequent  and  specific.  “There  is  one  thing 
about  our  young  President  which  I  think  cannot  be  de¬ 
nied,”  he  wrote  to  Lamont.  “He  has  but  little  idea  of 
the  proprieties  that  belong  to  his  high  office  or,  for  that 
matter,  to  its  incumbent.  .  .  .  There  never  was  a  time  I 
believe  when  the  country  would  be  a  greater  gainer  than 
now,  by  the  clearing  out  of  an  administration.”  And  to 
Hornblower,  eighteen  days  later: 

Princeton,  March  2Q ,  IQ04 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Hornblower  : 

I  thank  you  for  the  pains  you  have  taken  to  put  in 
my  hands  the  book  I  need.  I  expect  to  receive  it  to-day. 

In  reply  to  the  other  matter  contained  in  your  letter 
I  have  to  say,  that  I  have  had  doubts  as  to  Mr.  Parker’s 
being  the  very  best  candidate  in  sight,  considering  all 
things;  but  I  am  not  very  strong  in  these  doubts.  One 
thing  is  certain,  I  think.  He  is  clean,  decent,  and  con¬ 
servative  and  ought  on  those  grounds  to  inspire  con¬ 
fidence  in  quarters  where  it  is  sadly  needed,  if  our  party 
is  ever  going  to  be  a  political  power  again. 

It  is  in  my  view  immensely  important  that  the  sane 
portion  of  our  party  should  be  as  united  on  a  decent  can¬ 
didate  as  circumstances  will  permit — to  the  end  that  the 
movement  now  threatened  in  the  direction  of  insanity  and 
indecency  may  be  run  over  and  killed  “beyond  recogni¬ 
tion.”  In  this  view  it  should  be  taken  into  account  that 
Parker’s  candidacy  has  such  a  start  and  has  so  many  ele- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


336 

ments  ready  to  support  it  in  the  convention,  that  he  ap¬ 
pears  to  present  a  better  rallying  point  than  anyone  else. 

Personally  I  would  prefer  Olney  or  Gray;  but  they 
do  not  seem  to  me  to  be  under  much  headway. 

I  believe  if  I  were  in  your  place  I  would  signify  a 
disposition  towards  Parker. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Wm.  B.  Hornblower 

New  York. 

His  leaning  toward  Mr.  Olney  pleased  the  latter,  but 
it  did  not  imbue  him  with  presidential  longings.  “I  am 
fairly  astounded  at  some  of  your  intimations  about  pol¬ 
itics,”  wrote  Mr.  Olney,  on  May  1 8th.  “I  esteem  any 
opinion  of  yours  in  my  favor  as  about  as  high  a  com¬ 
pliment  as  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  receive.  But  I  am 
sure  it  would  not  be  to  my  advantage  to  be  President, 
while  at  the  prospect  of  a  candidacy,  if  actually  pre¬ 
sented  to  me,  I  should  be  perfectly  panic-stricken.  Can 
you  think  of  anyone  less  fitted  for  such  an  ordeal?  I  am 
not  really  disturbed,  however,  because  I  refuse  to  take 
the  matter  in  the  least  seriously.  Everything  done  here 
in  Massachusetts  has  been  done  without  my  consent  either 
asked  or  given,  and  but  for  the  peculiar  conditions  of 
the  Hearst  invasion  I  should  have  publicly  and  expressly 
forbidden  the  use  of  my  name  in  the  contest  for  delegates 
at  the  St.  Louis  Convention.” 

Judge  Parker’s  attitude  was  far  more  receptive,  and 
he  was  in  a  position  to  point  to  a  record  of  consistent 
opposition  to  free  silver,  even  when  the  party  had  stood 
upon  the  silver  platform.  When  Mr.  Cleveland,  toward 
the  end  of  May,  sent  word  that  he  could  be  counted  upon 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  337 

to  help  in  case  Mr.  Parker  were  nominated,  the  latter 
replied : 

Albany,  June  I ,  IQ04 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Cleveland: 

Mr.  Teague  of  the  North  American  called  on  me 
last  evening,  and  conveyed  to  me  your  very  generous 
message,  at  the  same  time  showing  me  your  interview 
as  it  appeared  in  the  North  American .  In  the  papers  I 
had  seen  only  excerpts.  I  wish  to  thank  you  for  your 
expression  of  confidence,  and  the  manner  of  it.  I  would 
not  have  had  you  put  my  name  before  that  of  Olney 
and  Gray  if  you  could  conscientiously  have  done  so,  and 
am  glad  that  you  pointed  to  the  fact  that  “circumstances” 
put  the  lead  where  it  is  at  present.  Your  generous  offer 
to  help  if  the  nomination  should  come  to  me  is  most 
welcome,  for  in  that  event  I  shall  need  your  advice,  and 
shall  be  greatly  gratified  if  I  may  consult  you  about  a 
few  of  the  more  important  matters. 

May  I  be  permitted  to  suggest  that  you  draft  such  a 
platform  as  seems  to  you  to  meet  the  situation?  Am  sure 
it  will  prove  of  great  help  to  the  party  if  you  can  find 
the  time  to  do  it. 

Again  assuring  you  of  my  great  appreciation,  I  am 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Alton  B.  Parker. 

The  Honorable  Grover  Cleveland. 

As  the  date  of  their  National  Convention  approached, 
Mr.  Cleveland  watched  with  astonishment  the  opera¬ 
tions  of  the  Republicans  who  were  wise  enough  to  realize 
— as  he  did  not — that  in  Theodore  Roosevelt,  the  “acci¬ 
dental  president,”  they  had  a  leader  of  the  first  order. 
When  the  latter’s  nomination  was  announced,  he  sent 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


338 

Mr.  Olney  a  clipping  headed,  “Is  Bryan  for  Olney?”  at 
the  same  time  threatening  the  latter  with  the  Presidency. 

Princeton,  June  24,  IQ04 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Olney  : 

You  had  better  look  out.  I  cut  the  attached  bit  of 
news  from  the  Sun  of  this  morning. 

Did  you  ever  see  such  a  boyish,  silly  performance  as 
the  Republican  National  Convention  which  has  just 
adjourned?  Perhaps  Lodge  &  Co.  think  they  can  safely 
calculate  on  the  stupidity  of  enough  of  the  people  to 
elect  “Teddy”;  but  if  our  party  was  in  proper  shape,  I 
am  sure  the  conglomeration  of  the  apostles  of  all  good 
would  find  themselves  reckoning  without  their  host. 

Somehow  I  cannot  at  all  times  feel  very  confident  of 
Democratic  success;  but  I  honestly  think  if  the  hint  con¬ 
tained  in  the  clipping  I  sent  could  lead  to  a  practical 
result,  there  would  be  brighter  hopes  than  in  any  other 
condition — I  mean  of  course  for  the  country  and  party 
and  not  especially  for  the  comfort  and  peace  of  the 
gentleman  referred  to.  .  .  . 

Yours  faithfully, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Richard  Olney, 

23  Court  St.,  Boston,  Mass. 

When  the  delegates  were  preparing  to  start  for  the 
Democratic  National  Convention  at  St.  Louis,  Mr. 
Cleveland  wrote  to  the  Honorable  James  Smith,  Jr.,  head 
of  the  New  Jersey  delegation: 

Princeton,  June  26,  IQ04 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Smith: 

You  will,  I  suppose,  head  the  delegation  from  my 
state  to  the  St.  Louis  Convention.  I  am  well  aware  of 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  339 

the  favorable  opinion  you  originally  entertained  touch¬ 
ing  my  availability  as  a  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in 
the  coming  campaign;  and  I  remember  with  great  satis¬ 
faction  the  friendly  spirit  in  which  you  accepted  the 
reasons  I  advanced  against  that  proposition,  when  we 
met  here  a  long  time  ago.  My  public  declaration  made 
before  our  conversation  and  the  apparent  reception  of 
my  refusal  to  be  considered  a  candidate  as  justifiably 
conclusive,  by  you  and  other  friends,  have  led  me  to 
regard  all  discussion  of  the  matter  as  ended. 

I  have  heard  and  read  some  things  lately  that  disturb 
me.  Perhaps  that  is  unnecessary  but  I  am  very  anxious 
that  there  should  be  no  misunderstanding  which  can  be 
chargeable  to  me  or  to  anything  I  may  do  or  omit  to  do. 

In  view  of  all  the  circumstances,  I  have  ventured  to 
write  you  this,  and  to  ask  you  as  representing  the  state 
of  my  residence,  as  my  friend,  to  prevent  the  use  of  my 
name  in  connection  with  the  presidential  nomination  at 
the  Convention.  I  certainly  could  not  accept  it. 

I  cannot  think  that  any  occasion  will  arise  calling 
upon  you  to  do  me  this  service;  but  as  I  am  just  leaving 
here  for  my  summer  vacation,  I  regard  it  as  not  amiss 
to  provide  against  even  a  very  slight  or  possible 
contingency. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  James  Smith, 

Newark. 

To  this  Mr.  Smith  replied  on  June  30th: 

“I  remember  well  the  reasons  advanced  by  you  at  our 
meeting  some  months  ago  for  not  wishing  your  name 
presented,  and  I  then  fully  agreed  with  you.  Since  that 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


340 

time  events  have  so  shaped  themselves  that  the  people  of 
this  country,  without  regard  to  politics,  seem  determined 
to  have  you  again  assume  the  duties  of  President.  Of 
course  I  shall  carry  out  your  instructions  in  this  matter, 
and  will  see  that  the  New  Jersey  delegation  does  not 
present  your  name  to  the  Convention.  Should  it  become 
necessary,  I  will  go  further  and  say  on  the  floor  of  the 
Convention  that  I  have  a  letter  from  you  in  which  you 
state  that  you  cannot  accept  the  nomination,  provided  this 
course  meets  with  your  approval;  but  should  the  time 
come  when  the  Convention  shall  arise  and  demand  your 
nomination,  with  almc:t  unanimous  voice,  I  think  it 
would  be  unfair  to  ask  me,  as  the  head  of  the  delegation 
from  your  state,  to  refuse  to  assent  to  such  a  demand.  .  .  . 

“Senator  Hill’s  leadership  of  the  Parker  forces,  to  my 
mind,  makes  Judge  Parker’s  election,  if  nominated,  very 
doubtful.  I  have  no  personal  feeling  against  either  Sen¬ 
ator  Hill  or  Judge  Parker,  but  I  think  it  my  duty,  as  a 
Democrat,  to  do  all  in  my  power  to  prevent  the  latter’s 
nomination,  as  I  am  convinced  that  such  an  event  would 
be  disastrous  to  Democratic  success.” 

In  his  keynote  speech  at  the  opening  of  the  St.  Louis 
Convention,  the  temporary  Chairman,  John  Sharp  Wil¬ 
liams,  declared  that,  through  the  dogged  persistence  and 
indomitable  will  of  Grover  Cleveland,  in  forcing  the 
repeal  of  the  silver-purchase  clause  of  the  Sherman  Act 
in  1893,  the  gold  standard  was  now  an  established  fact. 
At  the  mention  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  name,  the  party  which 
had  deserted  him  in  1896,  and  scorned  and  insulted  him 
in  1900,  burst  into  applause  which  lasted  so  long  that  the 
speaker  had  twice  to  take  his  seat  before  it  subsided. 

In  spite  of  this  fact,  however,  Mr.  Bryan,  with  the 
skill  of  a  master  of  forensic  oratory,  once  more  pushed 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  34 1 

his  fight  for  a  declaration  in  favor  of  the  free  and  un¬ 
limited  coinage  of  silver  at  the  ratio  of  sixteen  to  one. 
Again  he  charmed  the  galleries  with  his  eloquence,  but 
he  could  not  charm  the  delegates.  The  St.  Louis  Conven¬ 
tion  had  no  mind  to  go  before  the  country  chained  to  a 
dead  issue. 

When  the  platform  was  at  length  adopted,  it  was 
silent  upon  the  silver  issue,  but  when  the  news  of  his 
nomination  reached  Judge  Parker,  he  sent  the  following 
telegram  which  forced  the  Convention  to  the  position 
consistently  maintained  by  Grover  Cleveland  since  his 
first  battle  with  Bryan,  in  1893: 

Honorable  W.  F.  Sheehan, 

Hotel  Jefferson,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

I  regard  the  gold  standard  as  firmly  and  irrevocably 
established,  and  shall  act  accordingly  if  the  action  of  the 
Convention  to-day  shall  be  ratified  by  the  people.  As  the 
platform  is  silent  on  the  subject,  my  views  should  be 
made  known  to  the  Convention,  and  if  it  is  proved  to  be 
unsatisfactory  to  the  majority,  I  request  you  to  decline  the 
nomination  for  me  at  once,  so  that  another  may  be  nom¬ 
inated  before  adjournment. 

A.  B.  Parker. 

Upon  reading  this  message,  the  Convention,  by  a 
vote  of  774  to  19 1,  directed  that  the  following  reply  be 
sent: 

“The  platform  adopted  by  this  Convention  is  silent 
on  the  question  of  the  monetary  standard.  It  was  not 
regarded  by  us  as  a  possible  issue  in  the  campaign,  and 
only  campaign  issues  were  mentioned.  Therefore,  there 
is  nothing  in  the  views  expressed  in  the  telegram  re- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


342 

ceived  which  would  preclude  a  man  entertaining  them 
from  accepting  the  nomination  on  the  said  platform.” 

These  telegrams,  to  Mr.  Cleveland’s  mind,  meant 
party  redemption.  “True  Democracy”  was  again  in  the 
ascendant,  after  eight  years  of  almost  total  eclipse;  and 
for  the  moment  he  was  again  a  Democrat  in  full  and 
regular  communion  with  the  leadership  of  his  party. 
For  these  long,  bitter  years,  he  had  stood  on  the  side 
lines.  Now,  at  last,  he  was  able  once  more  to  join  the 
team.  He  sent  a  cordial  telegram  to  Judge  Parker,  to 
which  the  Democratic  nominee  responded: 

Rosemount 

Esopus-on-the-Hudson 

My  dear  Mr.  Cleveland  : 

I  am  deeply  grateful  for  your  telegram  of  congratu¬ 
lations,  and  pleased  beyond  expression  that  my  action 
meets  with  your  approval. 

May  I  have  the  liberty  of  consulting  you  occasionally 
about  matters  that  seem  of  larger  moment?  I  will  not 
trouble  you  except  on  very  important  matters. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Alton  B.  Parker. 

July  11,  1904 . 

Mr.  Cleveland’s  reply  was  the  letter  of  a  Democrat 
who  is  able  to  endorse  his  party’s  actions  heartily  and 
without  reservations: 

Buzzards  Bay,  Mass. 
July  14,  1904 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Parker  : 

I  received  your  letter  yesterday  at  this  place,  where 
I  have  been  stranded  for  more  than  a  week  on  my  way  to 
join  my  family  in  New  Hampshire. 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  343 

I  am  certain  that  no  man  living  appreciates  your  situ¬ 
ation  and  its  perplexities  better  than  I ;  and  I  am  equally 
positive  that  no  one  is  more  anxious  for  your  election. 
Of  course  this  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  I  can  be  of 
any  great  service  to  you — I  wish  it  did.  I  hope,  how¬ 
ever,  that  you  will  feel  absolutely  at  liberty  to  command 
me  in  every  way.  I  am  not  afraid  you  will  ask  me  to  do 
anything  inadvisable,  and  if  at  any  time  I  am  too  for¬ 
ward  with  advice  or  suggestions  you  must  go  your  way 
without  the  least  embarrassment.  Your  judgment  is  too 
good,  I  am  convinced,  to  be  interfered  with  by  any  one . 

Our  best  campaign  material  just  now  is — YOU.  I 
mean  “You”  as  you  are  manifested  to  your  countrymen 
in  the  despatch  you  sent  to  St.  Louis.  The  spirit  and 
sentiment  aroused  by  this  utterance  of  yours,  should  be 
kept  alive  and  stimulated  from  time  to  time  during  the 
campaign.  Occasions  will  present  themselves,  when  you 
respond  probably  to  the  Committee  on  notification  and 
when  you  write  your  letter  of  acceptance.  I  do  hope 
that  you  will  insist  upon  a  free  hand  in  meeting  these 
occasions  and  that  you  will  not  hesitate  to  paraphrase  or 
give  your  own  language  to  our  platform,  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  convince  our  people  that  you  propose  to  keep 
the  reins  you  have  in  hand  and  that  your  conception  of 
Democratic  obligations  will  constrain  you  to  protect  all 
legitimate  rights,  and  to  restrain  all  harmful  trespass 
upon  the  privileges  and  opportunities  promised  to  all  our 
people  under  our  plan  of  government — so  far  as  such  an 
exercise  of  power  is  within  executive  limits.  For  myself 
I  do  not  think  expediency  demands  of  you  the  distortion 
of  anything  your  judgment  suggests,  in  deference  to  the 
South  or  the  radicals  of  our  party.  Bryan  is  doing  the 
cause  much  good  in  his  present  mood;  and  I  for  one  hope 
it  will  continue.  We  need  Indiana;  and  if  the  Taggart 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


344 

Chairmanship  will  help  us  to  get  it,  it  might  be  well  to 
remember  that  after  all  the  Chairman  of  the  Executive 
Com.  of  the  N.  Y.  Headquarters  is  the  important  man. 

I  am  bothered  about  the  question  of  retaining  your 
judgeship  while  a  candidate  for  President;  but  I  hope 
there  will  be  a  safe  deliverance. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Alton  B.  Parker, 

Esopus,  N.  Y. 

“I  am  very  much  pleased  with  the  outcome  of  the 
Convention  as  brought  about  by  Providence  and  a  gentle¬ 
man  living  in  Esopus,”  he  wrote  to  Olney,  on  July  19th. 
“Such  Democrats  as  you  and  I  ought  to  be  pretty  well 
satisfied.  Bryan  and  Bryanism  are  eliminated  as  influen¬ 
tial  factors  in  Democratic  councils,  true  Democracy  has 
a  leader,  and  its  time-honored  and  time-approved  princi¬ 
ples  again  are  set  before  the  people  of  the  land  without 
apology  or  shamefacedness. 

“If  we  can  only  keep  peanut  methods  out  of  our  cam¬ 
paign  management,  I  believe  there  is  a  good  chance  to 
rid  the  country  of  Rooseveltism  and  its  entire  brood  of 
dangers  and  humiliations.  At  any  rate,  it  seems  to  me 
there  can  be  no  excuse  for  lack  of  effort  or  half-hearted¬ 
ness  on  the  part  of  any  true  Democrat  who  has  waited  all 
these  years  for  party  regeneration.” 

No  sooner  was  the  presidential  nomination  disposed 
of,  than  the  demand  was  made  that  Mr.  Cleveland  allow 
his  name  to  be  used  as  candidate  for  Governor  of  New 
Jersey.  “So  many  people  have  waited  on  me,  as  well  as 
newspaper  men,  to  urge  your  name,”  wrote  James  Smith, 
Jr.,  on  July  22d.  “I  simply  told  them  that  while  it  would 
be  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  have  you  accept  it,  and  that 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  345 

while  it  would  insure  the  state  for  Democratic  electors, 
I  hardly  thought  that  after  refusing  to  accept  a  nomina¬ 
tion  for  the  Presidency,  you  were  .  .  .  ‘patriotic’  enough 
to  accept  Governor,”  a  prediction  which  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
reply  promptly  justified. 

As  the  campaign  progressed,  he  grew  more  and  more 
eager  for  Judge  Parker’s  election,  writing  articles  to  that 
effect  for  Collier s  W eekly,  for  McClure s  Magazine , 
and  for  the  Saturday  Evening  Post ,  after  seeing  one  of 
which  Judge  Parker  thanked  him  in  the  following  letter: 

Rosemount 

Esopus-on-the-Hudson 
July  22 ,  IQ04 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Cleveland  : 

I  wish  to  thank  you  for  your  very  kind  letter  of  the 
fourteenth,  for  all  the  generous  things  you  say,  and  for 
all  the  suggestions  you  make.  I  shall  always  be  most 
grateful  for  any  advice  that  comes  from  you,  and  it  shall 
always  have  great  weight  with  me. 

I  have  read  with  very  grateful  appreciation  your 
most  generous  article  written  for  Collier's  Weekly.  It  is 
by  far,  in  my  opinion,  the  most  telling  contribution  to 
the  cause. 

Thanking  you  again,  and  with  best  wishes  for  you 
always,  I  am, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

Alton  B.  Parker. 

Mr.  Cleveland’s  diary  records  the  events  of  Novem¬ 
ber  8th  with  laconic  brevity:  “Election  day.  Voted 
about  10  o’c  .  .  .  Began  to  receive  returns  abt.  past  7 
I  think.  It  took  but  a  few  reports  to  enable  me  to  see 
that  we  the  Democrats  were  dreadfully  left.  Went  to 
bed  a  little  after  10.”  When  the  count  was  finished,  it 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


346 

was  seen  that  Roosevelt  was  overwhelmingly  elected. 
He  carried  every  state  except  the  solid  South,  and  Mis¬ 
souri  and  Maryland  followed  him  into  the  Republican 
fold.  His  popular  vote  was  over  seven  and  a  half  mil¬ 
lions,  and  his  plurality  more  than  two  and  a  half  millions. 

So  great  was  Mr.  Cleveland’s  disappointment  that 
for  weeks  he  was  silent  on  political  matters,  replying 
when  questioned:  “My  present  state  of  mind  does  not 
permit  me  to  do  the  subject  justice.”  To  Mr.  Farquhar, 
however,  he  wrote,  on  December  12th: 

A.  B.  Farquhar,  Esq., 

York,  Penna. 

My  dear  Sir: — 

I  was  glad  to  receive  your  recent  letter  after  so  long 
a  silence.  The  result  of  the  election  was  so  astounding 
that  I  have  hardly  sufficiently  recovered  my  composure 
to  contemplate  the  reasons  which  led  to  it  or  the  results 
likely  to  follow  it.  I  am  such  an  intense  and  unalterable 
believer  in  the  saving  common  sense  of  the  American 
people,  that  I  cannot  yet  believe  that  the  tremendous 
Republican  majority  given  at  the  last  election  should  be 
taken  to  indicate  the  people’s  willingness  to  allow  the 
principles  and  practices  of  Republicanism  to  be  unalter¬ 
ably  fixed  in  the  affairs  of  our  body  politic.  I  believe 
that  the  next  swing  of  the  pendulum  of  public  sentiment 
will  be  quite  to  the  Democratic  side  of  the  dial,  and  that, 
if  Democracy  is  prepared  to  do  its  duty,  when  that  time 
arrives,  it  will  become  again  the  beneficent  agent  of  the 
people’s  salvation. 

A  number  of  the  incidents  involved  in  the  election 
have  so  surprised  me  that  sometimes,  for  a  moment,  the 
idea  has  entered  my  mind  that  a  change  in  the  character 
of  our  countrymen  has  taken  place.  This  is,  however, 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  347 

only  for  a  moment,  and  the  second  thought  immediately 
reinstates  me  in  the  confidence  which  I  have  always  had 
in  our  people’s  right  thinking.  How  the  rejuvenation 
of  the  Democratic  party  which  seems  to  be  absolutely 
essential,  is  to  be  brought  about,  I  do  not  know;  but  I 
am  certain  that  in  due  time  a  way  will  be  made  plain. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

The  defeat  of  Judge  Parker  served  incidentally  to 
heighten  the  prestige  of  Grover  Cleveland,  who  re¬ 
mained  the  only  Democrat  since  Buchanan  strong  enough 
to  carry  a  presidential  election.  The  oft-rejected  prayer 
of  friends,  that  he  prepare  an  autobiography,  grew  more 
and  more  insistent,  and  flattering  offers  came  from  pub¬ 
lishers,  who  understood  far  better  than  he  the  interest 
which  his  own  story  from  his  own  pen  would  excite. 
He  rejected  them  all,  declaring  the  task  distasteful  to 
him  as  smacking  too  much  of  what  he  called  “self- 
conceit.”  He  admitted,  however,  the  value  of  biog¬ 
raphies  of  great  men:  “There  is  no  sadder  symptom  of 
a  generation’s  bad  moral  health  than  its  lack  of  faith  in 
its  great  men,  and  its  loss  of  reverence  for  its  heroes; 
but  let  this  belief  be  coupled  with  the  reservation  that 
those  called  great  shall  be  truly  great,  and  that  the  heroes 
challenging  our  reverence  shall  be  truly  heroic,  measured 
by  standards  adjusted  to  the  highest  moral  conditions  of 
man’s  civilization.” 

In  this  class  he  placed  Washington,  whom  he  de¬ 
scribed  as  “one  whose  glorious  deeds  are  transcendently 
above  all  others  recorded  in  our  national  annals  .  .  .  the 
incarnation  of  all  the  virtues  and  all  the  ideals  that  made 
our  nationality  possible”;  and  Lincoln,  “A  supremely 
great  and  good  man  .  ;  .  more  and  more  sacredly  en- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


348 

shrined  in  my  passionate  Americanism  with  every  year 
of  my  life.”  But  Grover  Cleveland  he  persistently  re¬ 
fused  to  consider  even  as  a  candidate  for  greatness.  While 
fully  conscious  of  a  power  to  endure  labor,  far  beyond 
that  of  the  average  man,  of  a  courage  that  permitted  him 
to  steer  his  course  regardless  of  opposition,  of  a  purpose 
bent  upon  things  outside  his  own  personal  gain,  and  of 
many  other  qualities  of  the  warp  and  woof  of  greatness, 
he  claimed  no  pedestal,  no  place  among  the  immortals, 
content  with  the  thought  that  he  was  a  citizen  who  had 
done  his  duty.  He  felt  he  was  in  the  world  for  quite 
another  purpose  than  being  great,  as  Dr.  Merle  Smith 
once  expressed  it. 

But  though  disinclined  to  hear  with  favor  the  pleas 
of  historians  eager  to  become  his  biographers,  he  bitterly 
resented  what  he  deemed  the  misrepresentations  of 
pseudo-historians.  To  Gilder  he  expressed  the  wrath 
which  the  efforts  of  some  of  the  latter  had  kindled : 

Princeton,  January  28 ,  IQO 5. 

My  dear  Mr.  Gilder: 

I  want  to  thank  you  for  your  trouble  in  attempting 

to  set  Mr.  -  right.  (PROF.  -  God  save  the 

mark!)  I  never  heard  of  him  until  Nelson  mentioned 
him  in  connection  with  his  stuff;  and  I  don’t  care  what 
else  he  is,  it  must  be  that  he  is  a  lover  of  falsehood,  who 
had  rather,  in  the  cloak  of  history  writing,  put  down 
something  new  and  striking,  than  tell  the  truth.  There 
is  another  coyote  in  Kansas  who  is  cut  off  the  same  piece; 
and  I  suppose  such  yelping  and  snarling  as  theirs  is 
history. 

I  honestly  think,  my  dear  Gilder,  that  there  are 
things  in  my  life  and  career  that  if  set  out,  and  read  by 
the  young  men  of  our  country,  might  be  of  benefit  to  a 


THE  ELECTION  OF  1904  349 

generation  soon  to  have  in  their  keeping  the  safety  and 
the  mission  of  our  nation;  but  I  am  not  certain  of  this, 
for  I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  it  would  be  in  tune  with 
the  vaudeville  that  attracts  our  people  and  wins  th°ir 
applause.  Somehow,  I  don’t  want  to  appear  wearing  a 
fur  coat  in  July. 

Mr.  McClure  and  all  the  forces  about  him  have 
lately  importuned  me,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  to 
write,  say  twelve  autobiographical  articles,  offering  what 
seems  to  me  a  large  sum  for  them  [$10,000] ;  but  I  have 
declined  the  proposition.  I  went  so  far  (for  I  softened 
up  a  bit  under  the  suggestion  of  duty  and  money)  to  in¬ 
quire  how  something  would  do  like  talking  to  another 
person  for  publication;  but  that  did  not  take  at  all. 
I  don’t  really  think  I  would  have  done  even  that,  but 
the  disapproval  of  merely  a  hint  that  the  “I”  might  to  an 
extent  be  eliminated,  made  it  seem  to  me  more  than  ever 
that  the  retention  of  everything  that  might  attract  the 
lovers  of  a  “snappy  life”  was  considered  important  by 
the  would-be  publishers. 

There  is  a  circle  of  friends  like  you,  who  I  hope 
will  believe  in  me.  I  am  happy  in  the  conviction  that 
they  will  continue  in  the  faith  whether  an  autobiography 
is  written  or  not.  I  want  my  wife  and  children  to  love 
me  now,  and  hereafter  to  proudly  honor  my  memory. 
They  will  have  my  autobiography  written  on  their  hearts 
where  every  day  they  may  turn  the  pages  and  read  it. 
In  these  days  what  else  is  there  that  is  worth  while  to  a 
man  nearly  sixty-eight  years  old? 

Give  my  love  to  Mrs.  Gilder  and  believe  me 

Yours  faithfully 

Grover  Cleveland. 

R.  W.  Gilder,  Esq., 

13  E.  8th  St.,  New  York. 


CHAPTER  XIII 


REORGANIZING  THE  EQUITABLE 

“We  can  better  afford  to  slacken  our  pace  than  to  abandon 
our  old  simple  American  standards  of  honesty. ” 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

DURING  the  first  eight  years  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
life  at  Princeton,  many  attempts  were  made  to  lure 
him  into  business,  where  his  hold  upon  the  confidence  of 
the  public  would  have  been  of  inestimable  value;  but  he 
resisted  them  all,  despite  the  tempting  financial  offers 
of  many  of  them.  In  1905,  however,  there  came  a  call 
to  what  Elihu  Root  later  characterized  as  “distinctly  a 
public  service,”  and  one  which,  as  such,  he  did  not  feel 
free  to  refuse,  although  it  meant  leadership  in  a  field 
wholly  new  to  him. 

The  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society,  an  association 
designed  to  benefit  its  policyholders,  had  by  slow  stages 
been  transformed  into  a  gigantic  engine  for  their  exploita¬ 
tion.  Its  funds  were  in  the  hands  of  directors  who  did 
not  direct;  its  policyholders  had  become  the  victims  of 
officials  who  did  direct;  while  factional  differences  within 
the  board  had  brought  about  a  condition  in  which  a 
receivership  was  inevitable,  unless  a  thorough  reorgan¬ 
ization  could  be  speedily  effected.  As  a  step  toward  such 
reorganization,  its  President,  James  W.  Alexander,  had 
asked  the  directors  to  mutualize  the  society  by  extending 
the  voting  privilege  to  all  policyholders;  and,  in  March, 
1905,  the  committee  appointed  to  effect  this  change  unan¬ 
imously  recommended  that  the  charter  be  so  amended 

350 


REORGANIZING  THE  EQUITABLE  35 1 

as  to  provide  that  a  majority  of  the  directors,  28  out  of 
52,  be  elected  by  the  policyholders. 

Before  the  change  was  actually  made,  however, 
Mr.  Thomas  F.  Ryan  purchased  502  of  the  1000  shares 
of  Equitable  capital  stock,  a  block  which  had  belonged 
to  Henry  B.  Hyde,  and  with  it  the  right  to  cast  the 
majority  vote  upon  all  questions.  Mr.  Ryan  later  gave 
the  following  explanation  of  the  motives  which  led  him 
to  make  this  purchase,  involving  the  payment  of 
$2,500,000:  “I  saw  in  the  virtual  necessity  of  a  receiver¬ 
ship  of  the  Equitable  .  .  .  disaster  impending  unless  the 
factional  differences  in  the  company  among  the  directors 
and  the  management  should  be  radically  changed.  To 
avert  this  and  to  prevent  the  frightful  losses  that  would 
occur  from  the  violent  breaking  up  of  the  Equitable,  not 
only  to  the  policyholders  but  to  the  financial  community 
at  large,  as  well  as  to  myself,  I  thought  that  someone 
ought  to  take  over  the  business.” 

For  one  man  to  intervene  to  protect  the  interests  of 
six  hundred  thousand  policyholders,  interests  amounting 
to  $400,000,000,  was  a  venture  of  enormous  proportions, 
and  Mr.  Ryan  knew  that  if  his  plan  were  to  succeed  he 
must  secure  as  the  head  of  the  trustees,  in  whose  hands 
he  intended  to  place  the  administration  of  his  majority 
stock,  a  man  whom  the  public  would  fully  trust,  since 
with  the  majority  stock  went  the  full  control  of  the 
Equitable  Corporation.  Ex-President  Cleveland  ap¬ 
peared  to  him  the  man  best  fitted  for  this  task,  and  he 
accordingly  sent  him  the  following  letter: 

New  York,  June  9,  IQO^ 

Dear  Mr.  Cleveland: 

You  may  be  aware  that  a  bitter  controversy  exists 
regarding  the  management  of  the  Equitable  Life  As- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


352 

surance  Society  and  that  public  confidence  has  been 
shaken  in  the  safety  of  the  funds  under  the  control  of  a 
single  block  of  stock  left  by  the  late  Henry  B.  Hyde. 
This  loss  of  confidence  affects  a  great  public  trust  of  more 
than  $400,000,000,  representing  the  savings  of  over  600,- 
000  policyholders,  and  the  present  condition  amounts  to 
a  public  misfortune. 

In  the  hope  of  putting  an  end  to  this  condition  and 
in  connection  with  a  change  of  the  executive  management 
of  the  Society,  I  have  .  .  .  purchased  this  block  of  stock 
and  propose  to  put  it  into  the  hands  of  a  board  of  trustees 
having  no  connection  with  Wall  Street,  with  power  to 
vote  it  for  the  election  of  directors — as  to  twenty-eight 
of  the  fifty-two  directors,  in  accordance  with  the  instruc¬ 
tions  of  the  policyholders  of  the  Society,  and  as  to  the 
remaining  twenty-four  directors  in  accordance  with  the 
uncontrolled  judgment  of  the  trustees.  This  division  of 
twenty-eight  and  twenty-four  is  in  accordance  with  a 
plan  of  giving  substantial  control  to  policyholders  already 
approved  by  the  Superintendent  of  Insurance. 

I  beg  you  to  act  as  one  of  this  board  with  other 
gentlemen,  who  shall  be  of  a  character  entirely  satis¬ 
factory  to  you. 

I  would  not  venture  to  ask  this  of  you  on  any  per¬ 
sonal  grounds ;  but  to  restore  this  great  trust,  affecting  so 
many  people  of  slender  means,  to  soundness  and  public 
confidence  would  certainly  be  a  great  public  service,  and 
this  view  emboldens  me  to  make  the  request. 

The  duties  of  the  trust  would  be  light,  as,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  when  a  satisfactory  board  is  once  con¬ 
stituted  there  are  few  changes,  and  all  the  clerical  and 
formal  work  would  be  done  by  the  office  force  of  the 
Company. 

I  have  written  similar  letters  to  Justice  Morgan  J. 


REORGANIZING  THE  EQUITABLE  353 

O'Brien,  Presiding  Justice  of  the  Appellate  Division  in 
our  Supreme  Court,  and  to  Mr.  George  Westinghouse, 
of  Pittsburgh,  two  of  the  largest  policyholders  in  the 
Society. 

Very  truly  yours, 

Thomas  F.  Ryan. 

Hon.  Grover  Cleveland 

Princeton,  N.  J. 

After  some  hesitation,  Mr.  Cleveland  answered: 

Princeton,  N.  J. 

June  IO }  1905* 

Thomas  F.  Ryan,  Esq., 

Dear  Sir: 

I  have  this  morning  received  your  letter  asking  me 
to  act  as  one  of  the  three  trustees  to  hold  the  stock  of  the 
Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society,  which  has  lately  been 
acquired  by  you  and  certain  associates,  and  to  use  the 
voting  power  of  such  stock  in  the  selection  of  directors  of 
said  Society. 

After  a  little  reflection  I  have  determined  that  I  ought 
to  accept  this  service.  I  assume  this  duty  upon  the  express 
condition  that,  so  far  as  the  trustees  are  to  be  vested  with 
discretion  in  the  selection  of  directors,  they  are  to  be 
absolutely  free  and  undisturbed  in  the  exercise  of  their 
judgment,  and  that,  so  far  as  they  are  to  act  formally  in 
voting  for  the  directors  conceded  to  policyholders,  a  fair 
and  undoubted  expression  of  policy-holding  choice  will 
be  forthcoming. 

The  very  general  anxiety  aroused  by  the  recent  un¬ 
happy  dissensions  in  the  management  of  the  Equitable 
Society  furnishes  proof  of  the  near  relationship  of  our 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


354 

people  to  life  insurance.  These  dissensions  have  not 
only  injured  the  fair  fame  of  the  company  immediately 
affected,  but  have  impaired  popular  faith  and  confidence 
in  the  security  of  life  insurance  itself,  as  a  provision  for 
those  who  in  thousands  of  cases  would  be  otherwise  help¬ 
less  against  the  afflictive  visitations  of  fate. 

The  character  of  this  business  is  such  that  those  who 
manage  and  direct  it  are  charged  with  a  grave  trust 
for  those  who,  necessarily,  must  rely  upon  their  fidelity. 
In  those  circumstances  they  have  no  right  to  regard  the 
places  they  hold  as  ornamental,  but  rather  as  positions 
of  work  and  duty  and  watchfulness. 

Above  all  things,  they  have  no  right  to  deal  with  the 
interests  intrusted  to  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  subserve 
or  to  become  confused  or  complicated  with  their  per¬ 
sonal  transactions  or  ventures. 

While  the  hope  that  I  might  aid  in  improving  the 
plight  of  the  Equitable  Society  has  led  me  to  accept  the 
trusteeship  you  tender,  I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  belief 
that  what  has  overtaken  this  company  is  liable  to  happen 
to  other  insurance  companies  and  fiduciary  organizations 
as  long  as  lax  ideas  of  responsibility  in  places  of  trust 
are  tolerated  by  our  people. 

The  high  pressure  of  speculation,  the  madness  of 
inordinate  business  scheming,  and  the  chances  taken  in 
new  and  uncertain  enterprises,  are  constantly  present 
temptations,  too  often  successful,  in  leading  managers 
and  directors  away  from  scrupulous  loyalty  and  fidelity 
to  the  interests  of  others  confided  to  their  care. 

We  can  better  afford  to  slacken  our  pace  than  to 
abandon  our  old  simple  American  standards  of  hon¬ 
esty;  and  we  shall  be  safer  if  we  regain  our  old  habit  of 
looking  at  the  appropriation,  to  personal  uses,  of  prop- 


REORGANIZING  THE  EQUITABLE  355 

erty  and  interests  held  in  trust,  in  the  same  light  as  other 
forms  of  stealing. 

Yours  very  truly, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

On  June  15th  a  deed  of  trust  was  executed  transferring 
control  of  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society  from 
its  one  majority  owner  to  Mr.  Cleveland  and  his  two  co¬ 
trustees.  At  the  same  time  Paul  Morton,  ex-Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  and  a  son  of  J.  Sterling  Morton,  of  Cleveland’s 
second  Cabinet,  was  made  President  of  the  Equitable, 
but  he  was  in  effect  a  President  without  a  Board  of 
Directors,  as  the  old  board  had  nearly  all  resigned,  and 
the  new  one  was  as  yet  to  be  created. 

During  the  days  which  intervened  between  his  ap¬ 
pointment  and  his  first  formal  meeting  with  his  co¬ 
trustees,  Mr.  Cleveland  set  himself  to  the  task  of 
mastering  the  problems  and  the  complicated  machinery 
of  the  insurance  business.  He  sought  advice  from 
neither  Mr.  Ryan  himself  nor  from  Mr.  Ryan’s  able 
counsel,  Mr.  Elihu  Root,  although  fully  conscious  of 
their  skill  in  matters  of  large  business.  He  had  friends 
also  on  the  Board  of  Directors,  but  he  asked  no  help  from 
them,  declaring  that  they  had  made  a  mess  of  things,  and 
that  now  he,  by  his  own  methods,  must  find  his  “own 
blundering  way.”  Disregarding  the  summer  heat,  he 
worked  at  his  task  of  discovering  the  facts,  which  he  later 
summarized  thus : 

“A  majority  of  the  directors  of  this  Company  were 
each  qualified  as  stockholders  and  directors,  by  a  color¬ 
able  holding  of  five  shares  of  the  stock  of  the  Company, 
placed  in  their  hands  by  its  President  and  subject  at 
any  time  to  his  recall,  or  such  other  disposition  as  he 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


356 

should  request.  Nearly  all  of  them  were  men  of  such 
wealth  and  were  so  distinguished  and  prominent  in  busi¬ 
ness  and  financial  operations  that  their  names  were 
familiar  throughout  the  United  States,  and  some  of  them 
throughout  the  world.  All  of  them  were  connected  with 
the  control  and  management  of  other  large  companies, 
numbering  in  some  cases  twenty  or  more.  Their  honor¬ 
able  business  reputations  repelled  any  suspicion  of  delib¬ 
erate  wrongdoing  or  willful  neglect  of  obligations.  They 
were  simply  non-directing  directors,  holding  their  places 
at  the  request  of  the  President  of  the  Company,  and 
doing  what  a  vicious  system  dictates  in  such  cases — pre¬ 
cisely  nothing  except  drift  with  the  current.  Thus  it 
came  about  that  before  their  eyes  and  within  their  reach, 
peculation  and  breach  of  trust  flourished,  scandals  grew, 
the  beneficent  designs  of  the  Company,  pending  its  thor¬ 
ough  reformation,  were  discredited,  and  its  policyholders 
were  distressed  with  fear  and  gloomy  forebodings.” 

As  soon  as  he  had  mastered  the  situation,  he  sent  an 
announcement  to  the  policyholders,  informing  them  that 
the  trustees  had  assumed  their  posts  as  representing  the 
majority  stock,  and  asking  that  suggestions  be  made  or 
names  proposed  for  the  vacant  directorships.  Although 
he  refused  expert  advice,  he  instinctively  sought  the 
guidance  of  popular  opinion. 

While  the  replies  were  coming  in,  the  question  of  the 
salary  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Trustees  was  taken  up  by 
a  committee  of  the  directors,  which,  on  June  20th,  re¬ 
ported  that  in  view  of  “the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
services  rendered  by  Mr.  Cleveland  .  .  .  $1000  per 
month  is  a  fair  sum.” 

By  June  27th,  some  two  hundred  suggestions  had  been 
received  in  answer  to  Mr.  Cleveland’s  request,  and  on 


REORGANIZING  THE  EQUITABLE  357 

that  day  the  second  meeting  of  the  trustees  was  held,  nine 
directors  were  chosen,  and  a  longer  and  more  elaborate 
address  adopted,  to  be  sent  out  under  date  of  June  28th. 
Each  of  these  documents  was  drawn  with  as  much  care 
as  though  it  had  been  a  presidential  message  to  Congress. 
Paul  D.  Cravath,  one  of  the  counsel  who  had  executed  the 
deed  of  trust,  recalls  the  following  incident:  “At  his 
request  I  had  drafted  a  statement  or  paper  of  some  kind, 
I  forget  just  what  it  was,  for  which  he  was  to  become 
responsible.  One  afternoon  I  went  to  Princeton  to  sub* 
mit  it  to  him.  He  seemed  to  like  it.  I  went  to  bed  at  a 
normal  hour,  say  eleven  o’clock.  When  I  came  down  to 
early  breakfast  the  next  morning  Mr.  Cleveland  greeted 
me  with  an  entirely  new  paper  which  he  had  prepared 
after  I  had  gone  to  bed.  He  must  have  stayed  up  most 
of  the  night.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  his  paper  was 
very  much  better  than  the  draft  which  I  had  proposed.” 

By  the  end  of  June,  the  Society  was  reorganized,  with 
a  board  of  trustees  ready  to  take  the  responsibilities  of 
their  trust  in  the  spirit  of  the  “old  simple  American 
standards  of  honesty,”  to  which  Mr.  Cleveland  always 
pinned  his  faith.  As  Chairman  he  had  furnished  men 
for  vacant  places,  destroying  the  practice  of  furnishing 
places  for  vacant  men.  As  each  new  director  had  been 
appointed  he  had  called  upon  Mr.  Cleveland,  nominally 
to  pay  his  respects,  but  really  to  receive  his  instructions. 
Each  came  from  the  interview  with  a  clear  vision  of  the 
dangers  which  beset  directors,  and  with  the  knowledge 
that  there  was  no  room  for  dummy  directors  on  the  new 
board. 

In  his  letter  accepting  the  trust,  Mr.  Cleveland  had 
said:  “What  has  overtaken  this  Company  is  liable  to 
happen  in  other  companies.”  And,  on  July  20th,  acting 
perhaps  upon  this  hint,  the  New  York  Legislature  made 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


358 

provision  for  a  committee  to  investigate  the  entire  busi¬ 
ness  of  life  insurance  within  the  state.  Senator  Arm¬ 
strong  was  its  Chairman,  and  its  chief  counsel  was  Charles 
E.  Hughes. 

Their  report  laid  bare  a  sordid  and  humiliating  situa¬ 
tion  in  which  senators,  masters  of  industry,  political 
machine-men,  bankers,  railroad  presidents,  and  directors 
of  insurance  companies  had  wrought  together  to  exploit 
a  helpless  public.  But  it  emphasized  the  value  of  the 
changes  which  Mr.  Cleveland  had  brought  about  in  the 
Equitable  before  the  Armstrong  Committee  had  even 
been  appointed,  and  forced  other  companies  to  make 
similar  changes  in  the  interest  of  the  public. 

In  commenting  upon  the  report,  Mr.  Cleveland  said 
of  Mr.  Hughes:  “No  one  can  better  know  the  causes 
responsible  for  such  management  than  the  able  and  fear¬ 
less  man  who  conducted  the  investigation  which  brought 
it  to  light.  His  universally  conceded  sincerity  and  his 
pre-eminent  qualification  as  a  witness  give  the  weight  of 
conclusiveness  to  the  following  words  addressed  by  him 
to  his  fellow  citizens  in  the  state  of  New  York:  ‘What  is 
the  vice  in  the  conduct  of  those  great  enterprises  which 
directly  affect  our  interests?  It  is  the  vice  of  selfishness. 
It  is  the  vice  of  setting  up  self-interest  as  against  service. 
It  is  the  vice  of  seeing  how  much  we  can  get  and  keep, 
instead  of  seeing  how  much  benefit  can  be  bestowed!’  ” 

No  sooner  had  the  affairs  of  the  Equitable  been  set 
in  order  than  there  came  a  new  call : 

Dec .  15th,  [1905] 
120  Broadway,  New  York 
My  dear  Mr.  Cleveland  : 

I  am  authorized  by  The  New  York  Life  Insurance 
Company,  The  Mutual  Life  Company,  and  this  Society  to 


REORGANIZING  THE  EQUITABLE  359' 

offer  you  $12,000.00  per  year  salary  to  act  as  the  referee 
between  the  three  companies  in  matters  of  dispute  con¬ 
cerning  the  respective  agents  of  the  three  institutions 
rebating  the  commissions  they  receive  from  premiums 
paid. 

This  will  not  be  arduous  work  and  I  doubt  if  there 
will  be  many  cases.  They  can  be  submitted  to  you  at 
Princeton  generally  by  correspondence  and  any  expenses 
for  clerk  hire  will  also  be  allowed  you. 

You  were  the  only  man  suggested  for  the  position  and 
I  sincerely  hope  you  will  decide  to  accept  it  commencing 
January  1st. 

Mr.  Thos.  B.  Reed  once  held  this  same  relation  to 
these  companies. 

Respectfully  yours, 

Paul  Morton. 

To 

Hon.  Grover  Cleveland 
Princeton,  N.  J. 

To  this  Mr.  Cleveland  replied: 

Princeton,  Dec .  IQ,  IQOfj . 

My  dear  Mr.  Morton: 

I  have  duly  considered  your  letter  of  the  15th  instant 
in  which,  on  behalf  of  The  New  York  Life  Insurance 
Company,  The  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  and 
The  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society  you  offer  me  the 
position  of  Referee  to  determine  disputes  that  may  arise 
between  the  organizations  mentioned  concerning  the 
allowance  by  their  respective  agents  of  rebates  on  their 
premium  commissions. 

I  believe  this  to  be  a  vice  that  can  have  no  place  in 
well-conducted  life  insurance. 


360  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

I  accept  the  proposition  contained  in  your  letter;  but 
in  doing  so  I  assume  that  those  for  whom  you  speak  are 
seriously  determined  to  present  the  claims  referred  to,  and 
will  unreservedly  second  every  effort  directed  to  that 
end. 

Yours  very  truly 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Paul  Morton 
President  of  The  Equitable 
Life  Assurance  Society. 

To  the  duties  of  these  two  posts,  the  Equitable  trus¬ 
teeship  and  this  refereeship,  there  was  added  a  year  later 
a  third,  also  in  the  field  of  insurance.  The  revelations 
of  the  Armstrong  Committee  having  produced  a  nation¬ 
wide  tendency  on  the  part  of  legislatures  to  make  un¬ 
necessary  and  ill-advised  attacks  upon  the  insurance 
business,  representatives  of  the  larger  companies  came 
together  and  formed  an  organization  for  mutual  protec¬ 
tion:  “The  Presidents’  Association  of  Life  Insurance 
Companies.” 

As  head  of  this  new  organization,  and  therefore  in 
effect  the  titular  head  of  life  insurance  in  America,  they 
selected  Mr.  Cleveland,  offering  him  a  salary,  liberal 
though  not  large  in  comparison  with  those  which  Ameri¬ 
cans  had  come  to  associate  with  high  insurance  posts. 
The  duty  of  this  office  was  to  examine  and  elucidate 
measures  of  legislation  as  they  were  presented,  a  duty  for 
which  his  public  experience  had  admirably  equipped 
him. 

For  a  time  he  hesitated,  accepting  at  first,  and  later 
sending  a  telegram  of  refusal,  which  he  explained  in  the 
following  letter  to  Mr.  Morton: 


REORGANIZING  THE  EQUITABLE  361 

Princeton,  Feby.  6,  IQOJ. 

My  dear  Paul  : 

I  have  just  sent  you  a  dispatch  which  has  brought 
me  a  great  deal  of  regret,  and  a  consciousness  that  I  have 
caused  you  disappointment  and  embarrassment.  I  am 
altogether  to  blame  for  these  and  confess  my  fault  with¬ 
out  any  claim  of  mitigation.  If  I  had  taken  a  little 
more  time  to  consider  the  matter  in  all  its  aspects  and 
had  trusted  a  little  more  thoroughly  to  the  soundness  of 
my  first  promptings,  I  should  have  saved  you  embarrass¬ 
ment  and  vexation,  by  declining  the  place  you  offered  me, 
at  the  proper  time. 

My  interest  in  insurance  affairs,  I  now  realize  more 
than  ever,  is  related  exclusively  to  the  success  and  pros¬ 
perity  of  the  Equitable,  and  my  great  desire  to  be  of 
service  to  you  and  Mr.  Ryan  as  well  as  to  the  company. 
It  is  such  a  different  proposition  to  make  this  new  con¬ 
nection  and  to  be  related  to  other  companies  and  their 
officials  whom  I  know  nothing  about  and  which  have  not 
enlisted  any  personal  attachment,  that  I  cannot,  all  things 
considered,  bring  myself  to  its  acceptance. 

I  know ,  too,  that  on  the  actual  basis  of  service  to  be 
rendered — that  is,  real  work  to  be  done,  I  would  not  earn 
anything  like  the  salary  offered  me. 

I  fully  appreciate  the  generous  compensation  paid 
me  for  past  services;  but  I  have  had  no  very  serious 
twinges  of  conscience  on  account  of  its  acceptance. 

Conditions  have,  however,  so  changed  and  the  work 
which  I  might  do  in  the  future  will  be  so  much  dimin¬ 
ished  that  I  insist  upon  an  entire  suspension  of  the  com¬ 
pensation  heretofore  allowed  me  in  connection  with  my 
trusteeship  and  refereeship,  or  the  relinquishment  of  both 
positions. 

Perhaps,  if  continued,  I  ought  to  be  reimbursed 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


362 

actual  expenses  and  a  fair  compensation  for  such  matters 
as  should  be  submitted  to  me  as  referee. 

I  want  you  to  understand  that  my  interest  in  the 
Equitable  and  your  success  as  its  President  and  the  satis¬ 
faction  of  my  relationship  with  Mr.  Ryan,  is  as  strong 
as  ever  (and  that  means  as  strong  as  it  can  be)  ;  and  I 
would  be  glad  if  I  could  continue  a  serviceable  con¬ 
nection. 

In  my  judgment  the  head  of  the  Presidents’  Associa¬ 
tion  would  more  naturally  be  an  insurance  man.  I 
believe  you  do  not  agree  with  me  in  this. 

Finally,  if  you  will  let  me  off  from  this  new  engage¬ 
ment  with  as  much  complacency  as  you  can  muster,  I 
will  be  glad  to  render  any  other  possible  service  to  the 
institution  and  the  persons  with  whom  I  am  already 
associated,  on  the  conditions  which  I  believe  you  under¬ 
stand. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Paul  Morton, 

/  * 

President,  &c., 

120  Broadway,  New  York. 

Mr.  Morton  and  his  associates,  however,  persisted  in 
their  demand  that  Mr.  Cleveland  accept  the  proffered 
post,  and  in  the  end  he  yielded.  The  field  of  his  activ¬ 
ities  was  nation-wide,  but  his  audience  was  world-wide; 
and  the  influence  exerted  by  his  carefully  considered 
statements  concerning  the  business  of  life  insurance  was 
comparable  with  that  which  he  had  so  long  exerted  as  a 
political  leader.  His  method  of  pinning  the  crime  on  the 
criminal  was  employed  as  fearlessly  as  in  the  old  days  of 
Sheriff,  Mayor,  Governor  or  President.  One  of  his 
addresses  bore  the  title,  “Directors  Who  Do  Not  Direct,” 


REORGANIZING  THE  EQUITABLE  363 

and  into  it  he  put  his  philosophy  of  representative  re¬ 
sponsibility.  When  a  bank  has  been  looted,  he  declared, 
it  is  not  enough  for  the  Directors  to  tell  the  plundered 
depositors  that  “someone  must  be  trusted.”  Their  proper 
reply  is,  “Yes!  but  we  have  trusted  you.” 

Despite  his  frank  acknowledgment  of  the  fact  that 
the  insurance  idea  had  at  times  been  used  as  a  cloak  to 
cover  many  crooked  deals,  his  examination  of  the  entire 
field  confirmed  his  earlier  view  that  insurance  companies 
had  rendered  invaluable  service  to  the  great  majority. 
And  his  frank  approval  of  the  system  reassured  many 
minds  and  helped  greatly  to  restore  the  confidence  so 
rudely  shaken  by  the  findings  of  the  Armstrong  Com¬ 
mittee. 

Thus,  in  the  last  years  of  his  life,  was  he  able  to 
apply  his  statesmanship  to  big  business,  carrying  through 
promptly,  efficiently,  and  without  seeking  the  spotlight, 
a  series  of  reforms  whose  ultimate  influence  extended  far 
beyond  the  field  of  nation-wide  insurance.  The  abuses 
that  had  disgraced  the  insurance  business  had  but  re¬ 
flected  others  in  a  hundred  kindred  lines;  and  the  re¬ 
forms  wrought  by  the  practiced  hand  of  Grover  Cleve¬ 
land,  not  skilled  in  insurance  but  an  expert  in  reform, 
reacted  upon  many  of  these  businesses  as  well.  Men  had 
come  to  believe  that  the  existing  system  of  interlocking 
directorates  was  essential  to  the  conduct  of  big  business, 
because  the  men  capable  of  managing  such  enterprises 
were  considered  few.  This  bubble  vanished  at  the  first 
prick  of  Cleveland  realism,  for  within  five  weeks  after 
beginning  his  work  as  Chairman  of  the  Equitable  Trus¬ 
tees  he  had  found  enough  new  men  not  connected  with  the 
insurance  business  to  conduct  successfully  a  great  enter¬ 
prise  which  had  been  brought  to  the  brink  of  ruin  by  the 
older  system.  He  had  proved  that  there  is  no  mystery 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


364 

about  big  business,  and  that  there  is  no  need  to  erect  its 
leaders  into  a  mystic  priesthood. 

“It  has  been  interesting  to  me,”  declared  Judge  Day, 
who  entered  the  Equitable  during  Mr.  Cleveland’s  reor¬ 
ganization,  and  later  became  its  President,  “to  see  how 
life  insurance  was  revolutionized.  .  .  .  The  new  owner’s 
courage  in  buying  a  majority  of  the  stock,  and  his  act  in 
divesting  himself  of  any  vestige  of  control  over  it,  by 
turning  it  over  to  the  one  man  in  the  country  who  would 
inspire  confidence,  has  always  seemed  to  me  one  of  the 
striking  events  in  modern  business.  .  .  .  The  immediate 
return  of  confidence,  the  success  of  the  open  appeal  to  the 
great  public  which  at  once  carried  its  effects  beyond  the 
policyholders  of  the  Society,  marked  it  as  an  outstanding 
event.”  And  he  added,  “the  one  predominant  influence 
was  the  name  and  character  of  Grover  Cleveland.  .  .  . 
The  value  of  Cleveland’s  services  to  the  cause  of  sound 
life  insurance  in  the  days  of  its  trial  cannot  be  over¬ 
estimated.” 


CHAPTER  XIV 


SUNSET  DAYS 

“I  have  tried  so  hard  to  do  right.” 

— Grover  Cleveland. 

MR.  CLEVELAND’S  sixty-ninth  birthday  found 
him  in  Florida,  seeking  the  health  which  never 
would  return.  Although  not  old,  he  was  aging  fast.  The 
physical  strength  which  had  made  possible  strenuous 
days  and  deliberately  sleepless  nights  was  gone,  and  he 
dared  not  face  the  penetrating  dampness  of  a  New  Jersey 
March.  To  him  in  his  retreat  came,  as  usual,  a  deluge 
of  birthday  letters,  some  from  intimate  friends,  some 
from  mere  acquaintances,  and  many  from  admirers  who 
knew  him  only  by  his  works.  Commodore  Benedict,  in 
playful  vein,  sounded  the  bugle  call  of  the  69th : 

Indian  Harbor,  Greenwich,  Conn. 

March  12,  IQ06 . 

My  dear  Admiral: — 

I  am  credibly  informed  that  you  are  to  join  the  Sixty- 
ninth  regiment  on  the  1 8th  inst.,  the  day  following 
St.  Patrick’s. 

As  I  shall  not  be  present  to  extend  the  glad  hand,  and, 

as  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  join  that  disorganization 

something  over  three  years  ago,  I  have  thought,  perhaps, 

you  might  be  interested  to  hear  what  I  think  of  it  after 

serving  the  full  term  of  my  enlistment,  and  what  you 

may  expect,  based  on  my  experience. 

365 


366  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

You  must  not  be  surprised  to  find  at  the  very  outset 
that  you  are  the  youngest  member  of  the  whole  shooting 
match,  but  advancement  is  very  certain,  rapid,  and  con¬ 
tinuous.  You  will  not  be  obliged  to  carry  the  pail  at  the 
end  of  the  procession  for  more  than  a  few  moments,  so 
rapidly  are  younger  members  admitted.  You  will  not 
be  greeted  with  a  display  of  shamrocks  or  shillalahs,  the 
regiment  is  too  busy  admitting  new  members  and  burying 
older  ones  to  indulge  in  such  luxuries.  Your  enlistment 
will  be  for  one  year  only,  at  the  end  of  which,  if  you 
survive,  you  will  be  a  veteran. 

Although  the  memberships  of  this  regiment  extend 
throughout  the  world,  you  will  be  surprised  to  find  how 
few  of  them  you  will  meet,  and,  of  them,  but  very  few 
will  be  found  in  good  marching  order,  most  of  them 
preferring  slippers  to  seven  league  boots.  Never  before 
did  you  belong  to  a  club,  society,  or  organization  which 
comprised  such  a  lot  of  rickety  humanity.  An  atmos¬ 
phere  of  spring  will  be  found  lingering  in  some  hearts, 
but  the  most  of  them  will  betray  a  spring  halt  in  their 
legs  or  a  movement  as  if  getting  ready  for  winter  by 
practicing  on  snowshoes.  And  yet  the  few  little  boys 
you  will  find  to  play  with,  some  of  whom  may  have  been 
companions  of  your  youth,  will  all  seem  to  be  on  their 
good  behavior.  They  will  flatter  one  another  with  all 
sorts  of  preposterous  assurances  of  youthful  looks  and 
actions,  and,  after  swearing  off  twenty  years  or  so  from 
each  other’s  ages  consult  a  pedometer  and  a  mirror,  with 
the  result  that,  while  each  admits  a  claim  to  youthful 
feelings,  will  all  agree  that  they  are  pretty  good  imita¬ 
tions  of  old  people.  They  will  be  ever  ready  to  give 
the  latitude  and  longitude  of  all  their  wanderings,  and, 
after  touching  upon  a  few  joys,  such  as  fishing  and  hunt¬ 
ing — shouldering  their  guns  and  rods  to  show  how  game 


SUNSET  DAYS 


367 

and  fish  have  been  won — will  lapse  into  a  state  of  ecstatic 
agony  as  they  unload  upon  each  other  the  stories  of  their 
various  sufferings. 

Not  the  least  of  the  attractions  of  this  regiment  is  the 
fair  light  guard  of  grandmothers  who  belong;  for 
women,  of  course,  are  not  only  admitted,  but,  for  the 
most  part,  are  drafted  in  spite  of  many  protestations. 
There  will  appear  to  be  more  of  them  than  men;  and 
then  will  dawn  upon  you,  if  it  never  has  done  so  before, 
the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  a  few  scuttle-bonnet  cripples 
among  them,  there  are  a  whole  lot  who  are  exceedingly 
fascinating  and  attractive,  a  joy  wholly  denied  us  in 
youth,  but  fortunately  reserved  for  age.  So  much  for 
the  Sixty-niners. 

Your  year  of  service  ended,  without  booming  of  can¬ 
non,  earthquakes,  lightning,  or  thunder,  you  will  quietly 
slide  into  the  very  aristocracy  of  age.  All  your  life  long 
you  have  wondered  if  you  would  live  out  your  natural 
days.  How  strange  it  is  that  we  should  spend  so  many 
years  in  fear  that  we  may  never  attain  the  seventieth 
birthday,  yet  always  dreading  the  day  when  we  will  do 
so!  However,  this  question  settled,  you  will  find  yourself 
in  the  ranks  of  many  great  men,  particularly  in  Biblical 
history,  like  King  David;  and  later,  Columbus,  and  still 
later,  Mark  Twain,  who  made  a  joke  of  the  event.  He 
must  have  had  in  mind  the  inscription  on  Gay’s  tomb  in 
Westminster  Abbey: — 

“Life  is  a  jest,  all  things  show  it; 

I  thought  so  once,  and  now  I  know  it.” 

Then  you  can  almost  consider  yourself  honorably  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  burial  service.  Looking  back  to  the  Sixty- 
niners,  they  appear  like  a  marked  down  lot  at  Macy’s. 
I  find  little  depression  of  spirits  on  my  side  of  seventy. 
I  am  on  velvet,  as  the  gamblers  say.  Besides,  many  com- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


368 

pensations  appear,  not  the  least  is  to  be  able  to  walk  into 
the  office  of  the  Commissioner  of  Jurors,  as  I  have  done, 
with  my  thumb  on  my  nose  and  my  fingers  fluttering  in 
the  air.  Your  value  as  an  antique  has  increased,  and 
bumps  of  veneration  come  to  your  support  on  every  hand 
and  head. 

But  I  am  exceeding  the  objects  of  this  letter.  At  this 
juncture  in  your  career  you  might  follow  the  advice  given 
by  the  little  Sunday  School  boy  (in  a  story  you  told  me, 
by  the  way).  You  remember  when  asked  by  his  teacher 
— “What  about  hell  and  the  Devil?”  he  answered, 
“Wait  and  see.”  Meanwhile,  uniting  with  the  congrat¬ 
ulations  of  other  friends,  and,  in  the  language  of  Robert 
Roosevelt,  let  me  “wish  that  you  may  live  as  long  as  you 
want  to  and  want  to  as  long  as  you  live.” 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

E.  C.  Benedict. 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Richard  Olney  avowed  the  opinion  that,  “On  your 
69th  birthday  you  find  yourself  the  object  of  higher  and 
more  general  respect  and  esteem  among  your  fellow 
countrymen  than  any  other  living  American.” 

Mark  Twain’s  tribute  revamped  the  slogan  of  1884: 
“We  love  him  for  the  enemies  he  has  made.” 

21  Fifth  Avenue 

March  6 ,  1906. 

Grover  Cleveland,  Esq. 

Ex- President. 

Honored  Sir: 

Your  patriotic  virtues  have  won  for  you  the  homage 
of  half  the  nation  and  the  enmity  of  the  other  half.  This 
places  your  character  as  a  citizen  upon  a  summit  as  high 


SUNSET  DAYS 


369 

as  Washington’s.  The  verdict  is  unanimous  and  unassail¬ 
able.  The  votes  of  both  sides  are  necessary  in  cases  like 
these,  and  the  votes  of  the  one  side  are  quite  as  valuable 
as  are  the  votes  of  the  other.  When  the  votes  are  all  in 
a  public  man’s  favor  the  verdict  is  against  him.  It  is 
sand,  and  history  will  wash  it  away.  But  the  verdict  for 
you  is  rock,  and  will  stand. 

With  the  profoundest  respect, 

S.  L.  Clemens. 

(as  of  date  March  18,  1906) 

Woodrow  Wilson  thus  acknowledged  his  personal 
debt  to  the  teachings  of  the  Sage  of  Princeton: 

Princeton  University 
Princeton,  N.  J. 

President’s  Room  5  March ,  IQ06 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Cleveland: — 

I  should  think  that  a  birth-day  would  bring  you  very 
many  gratifying  thoughts,  and  I  hope  that  you  realize 
how  specially  strong  the  admiration  and  affection  of 
those  of  us  in  Princeton  who  know  you  best  has  grown 
during  the  years  when  we  have  been  privileged  to  be 
near  you.  It  has  been  one  of  the  best  circumstances  of 
my  life  that  I  have  been  closely  associated  with  you  in 
matters  both  large  and  small.  It  has  given  me  strength 
and  knowledge  of  affairs. 

But  if  I  may  judge  by  my  own  feeling,  what  a  man 
specially  wants  to  know  on  his  birth-day  is  how  he 
stands,  not  in  reputation  or  in  power,  but  in  the  affection 
of  those  whose  affection  he  cares  for.  The  fine  thing 
about  the  feeling  for  yourself  which  I  find  in  the  mind 
of  almost  everyone  I  talk  with,  is  that  it  is  mixed  with 
genuine  affection.  I  often  find  this  true  even  of  persons 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


370 

who  do  not  know  you  personally.  How  much  more  must 
it  be  true  of  those  who  are  near  you. 

With  most  affectionate  regard  and  with  a  hope  that 
you  may  enjoy  many  another  anniversary  in  peace  and 
honor  and  affection, 

Faithfully  yours, 

Woodrow  Wilson. 

Honorable  Grover  Cleveland, 

Princeton,  N.  J. 

Illiterate  or  literary,  commonplace  or  clever,  each 
birthday  tribute  received  its  answer  in  his  own  hand¬ 
writing.  To  Richard  Watson  Gilder  he  wrote:  “From 
the  height  of  sixty-nine,  I  write  to  assure  you  that  this  is 
a  happy  day  in  my  life,  and  to  tell  you  how  happy  I  am 
that  you  have  made  it  so — more  by  your  own  loving 
message  of  congratulations  than  by  those  you  have  in¬ 
spired.  I  have  been  so  deeply  impressed  by  it  all,  that 
I  have  had  many  struggles  between  smiles  and  tears  as  I 
read  the  words  of  affection  and  praise  that  have  met  me 
at  the  gate  of  entrance  to  another  year.  Somehow  I  am 
wondering  why  all  this  should  be,  since  I  have  left  many 
things  undone  I  ought  to  have  done  in  the  realm  of 
friendship,  and  since  in  the  work  of  public  life  and  effort, 
God  has  never  failed  to  clearly  make  known  to  me  the 
path  of  duty.  And  still  it  is  in  human  nature  for  one 
to  hug  the  praise  of  his  fellows  and  the  affection  of 
friends  to  his  bosom  as  his  earned  possessions.  I  am  no 
better  than  this;  but  I  shall  trust  you  to  acquit  me  of 
affectation  when  I  say  to  you  that  in  to-day’s  mood  there 
comes  the  regret  that  the  time  is  so  shortened,  within 
which  I  can  make  further  payment  to  the  people  that 
have  honored  and  trusted  me.” 


SUNSET  DAYS 


371 

To  Andrew  Carnegie,  he  sent  the  following  reply: 

Stuart,  Florida. 

March  20,  IQ06 . 

My  dear  Mr.  Carnegie  : 

Your  exceedingly  kind  letter  of  congratulation 
touched  me  deeply,  and  I  want  to  thank  you  for  it  from 
the  bottom  of  my  heart.  With  other  like  manifestations 
of  good  will  from  friends  whom  I  also  hold  close  in 
affection,  I  feel  that  it  compensates  not  only  for  ad¬ 
vancing  age,  but  for  all  that  has  been  hard  and  laborious 
in  the  past. 

I  avail  myself  of  the  knowledge  of  your  address 
which  your  letter  furnishes,  to  thank  you  for  the  package 
from  Scotland  which  arrived  in  proper  condition  some 
time  ago.  Despite  all  fanatical  medical  advice,  I  insist 
upon  it  that  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine,  a  man  should  know 
himself  of  at  least  one  thing  that  meets  his  physical 
condition. 

Ever  since  you  told  me  something  of  your  dear  daugh¬ 
ter’s  ailment,  I  have  been  exceedingly  anxious  to  hear 
that  you  had  been  relieved  of  solicitude  on  her  account. 

Will  you  please  convey  to  Mrs.  Carnegie  my  dutiful 
regards  and  believe  me 

Faithfully  yours 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Andrew  Carnegie,  Esq. 

The  Cottage 

Dungeness,  Fernandino,  Fla. 

His  acknowledgment  to  the  Rev.  Wilton  Merle- 
Smith,  D.D.,  beautifully  sums  up  his  own  high  philos¬ 
ophy  of  life: 


Stuart,  Fla.,  March  21,  IQ06 . 


372  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

My  dear  Doctor  Smith: 

You  don’t  know  how  much  good  your  generous  letter 
of  congratulation  has  done  me.  It  has  enlivened  my 
sense  of  gratitude  for  what  I  have  been  able  to  do  in  the 
past,  for  the  joys  of  the  present,  and  for  such  friendship 
and  confidence  as  yours.  I  have  quite  often,  lately,  found 
myself  longing  for  the  rest  of  idleness,  and  the  peace  of 
inactivity;  and  I  have  sometimes  even  given  entrance  to 
the  thought  that  these  were  my  due.  But  you  have  writ¬ 
ten  words  to  me  that  will  help  me  to  constantly  appreciate 
the  fact  that  God  who  has  blessed  me  above  all  other 
men,  and  directed  all  my  ways,  deserves  my  service, 
and  every  good  cause  deserves  my  best  endeavor,  as  long 
as  my  life  and  strength  shall  last. 

I  know  as  no  one  else  can  know  my  limitations,  and 
how  fixed  and  inexorable  they  are  .  .  .  but  I  shall  trust 
God,  as  I  have  in  the  past,  for  strength  and  opportunity 
for  further  usefulness. 

Yours  faithfully, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Rev.  Wilton  Merle  Smith,  D.D. 

29  W.  54th  St.,  New  York. 

His  letter  to  Vilas,  the  only  surviving  member  of  his 
first  Cabinet,  he  wrote,  in  reminiscent  mood : 

Stuart,  Fla.,  March  24 ,  IQ06, 

My  dear  Mr.  Vilas, 

In  this  rather  secluded  place  where  I  have  come  to 
seek  rest  and  recreation,  many  kind  congratulations  upon 
my  sixty-ninth  birthday  have  reached  me.  They  have  all 
been  delightful  and  comforting  to  me;  but  none  have 
touched  me  so  deeply  as  yours.  Twenty-one  years  is 
really  a  long  time;  and  yet  without  dwelling  upon  their 


SUNSET  DAYS  373 

actual  number  how  short  a  time  it  seems  since  on  the 
4th  day  of  March,  1885,  seven  of  the  best  and  most 
patriotic  men  in  our  country  joined  me  in  the  highest 
executive  work.  It  would  have  been  strange  indeed  if 
the  national  responsibilities  and  perplexities  of  the  next 
four  years — nobly  shared  by  all — had  not  grappled  us 
together  by  bands  stronger  and  more  enduring  than  steel. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  impressive  thoughts  that  enter  my 
mind  in  these  days,  that  of  all  that  circle  you  and  I  alone 
remain. 

And  so  it  is,  that  your  letter  recalling  this,  and  bring¬ 
ing  to  my  mind  our  free,  frank  and  trustful  association, 
and  manifesting  the  same  unrestrained  affection  as  of  old, 
comes  so  near  my  heart.  .  .  . 

With  thanks  for  your  continued  kindly  remembrance 
of  me,  and  its  beautiful  expression  just  at  this  time,  I  am, 

Faithfully  your  friend, 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Hon.  Wm.  F.  Vilas, 

Madison,  Wis. 

George  Allen  Bennett,  aged  nine,  received  this  reply: 

Stuart,  Florida. 
March  30 ,  IQ06. 

My  dear  little  friend  : 

I  am  very  glad  you  wrote  me  a  letter  of  congratula¬ 
tion  and  good  wishes  on  my  birthday.  And  I  thank  you 
for  kindly  thinking  of  me.  We  ought  to  be  very  good 
friends,  if  we  were  born  on  the  same  day  of  the  month, 
though  there  is  a  difference  of  sixty  years  in  our  ages. 
The  years  seem  to  pass  much  more  quickly,  as  a  person 
grows  older  and  when  you  arrive  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


374 

as  I  have  done,  you  will  wonder  at  the  short  distance 
between  nine  and  sixty-nine. 

I  think  the  1 8th  of  March  is  the  best  day  in  all  the 
year  to  be  born  on  and  I  hope  you  do  too.  I  wish  for 
you  a  great  many  Happy  Birthdays,  and  that  as  each  one 
passes,  there  will  be  such  increase  in  your  mental  and 
moral  growth  and  such  improvement  in  every  way  that 
you  will  be  insured  a  life  of  honor  and  usefulness. 

Your  friend 

Grover  Cleveland. 

Master  George  Allen  Bennett 

North  Ridgefield,  Conn. 

Mr.  Cleveland  loved  children  and  this  letter  is  the 
result  of  the  natural  impulse  of  that  affection.  One  of 
his  law  partners  in  the  old  days  in  Buffalo  has  recorded 
the  fact  that  in  furnishing  his  bachelor  apartments  “his 
fondness  for  children  was  shown  in  a  preponderance  of 
children’s  pictures  in  the  photographs  scattered  about.” 
And  another  friend  of  early  days  recalls  the  fact  that, 
while  Governor  of  New  York,  he  used  to  walk  every 
day  from  his  residence  to  the  Capitol,  and  always  greeted 
each  child  whom  he  met  with  “Hello,  little  one!”  Not 
infrequently  he  received  and  always  enjoyed  the  retort: 
“Hello,  little  one!”  During  one  of  Judge  Hornblower’s 
visits  to  Mr.  Cleveland,  when  Ruth  was  a  very  new  baby, 
he  drew  out  from  his  overcoat  pocket  and  displayed  to 
the  ex-President  a  sadly  dilapidated  doll  which  his 
daughter,  Susie,  aged  five,  had  asked  her  father  to  take  to 
little  Ruth  when  she  heard  that  the  latter  was  ill.  The 
conversation  then  turned  to  other  matters,  and  when  the 
Judge  returned  home  he  carried  the  doll  with  him,  for¬ 
gotten.  The  next  day  he  received  from  Mr.  Cleveland 
the  following  letter: 


SUNSET  DAYS 


375 


My  dear  Mr.  Hornblower: 

I  scarcely  do  anything  just  now  but  read  the  kindest 
messages  of  congratulation  and  receive  in  every  possible 
way  manifestations  of  the  kindness  which  pervades  the 
people  of  the  Land. 

And  yet  nothing  has  come  near  touching  me  so  much 
as  the  incident  of  to-day  relating  to  the  gift  your  little 
daughter  sent  to  mine. 

I  do  not  know  why  you  did  not  leave  the  doll  with 
me.  Nothing  could  have  been  more  dear  to  the  mother 
than  the  doll  which  a  little  girl,  and  your  daughter ,  was 
willing  to  give  up  to  our  new  baby. 

I  do  not  want  your  child  to  feel  that  her  gift  was  not 
valued  for  what  it  was  worth.  It  meant  so  much  to  her 
that  it  means  a  very  great  deal  to  us. 

I  wish  we  could  have  the  doll  and  that  its  precious 
little  donor  could  receive  our  heartfelt  thanks,  with  the 
assurance  that  when  our  child  first  plays  with  a  doll  it 
shall  be  with  the  one  she  gave  her. 

Of  course  if  we  are  to  have  it,  it  must  be  in  the  exact 
shape  it  was  in  when  I  saw  it  to-day. 

Yours  sincerely 

Grover  Cleveland. 

'The  closing  months  of  1906  were  uneventful,  save  for 
ceaseless  pleas  for  speeches.  But  he  was  weary  of  speak¬ 
ing,  and  refused  every  call  which  did  not  lay  a  hand 
upon  his  conscience.  He  did,  however,  promise,  at  the 
urgent  request  of  the  Union  League  Club  of  Chicago,  to 
deliver  the  Washington’s  Birthday  address  of  1907,  under 
their  auspices,  although  he  shrank  from  the  idea  of  the 
labor  which  such  a  promise  entailed.  Having  completed 
it,  he  wrote  to  George  F.  Parker:  “I  have  just  finished  a 
terrific  and  not  a  very  victorious  struggle  in  the  prepara- 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


376 

tion  of  something  to  say  at  Chicago  on  Washington’s 
Birthday.  I  am  consoled,  however,  by  the  reflection  that 
it  concludes  probably  my  perplexities  in  that  direction 
for  the  period  of  my  natural  life,  and  during  the  ensuing 
eternity,  unless  I  fail  to  ‘arrive,’  as  I  hope  to  do.” 

Armed  with  his  manuscript  he  reached  Chicago,  only 
to  find  that  he  could  not  escape  with  a  single  address. 
Indeed,  he  had  made  four  before  that  strenuous  twenty- 
second  of  February  closed.  His  principal  speech,  a  trib¬ 
ute  to  the  memory  of  George  Washington,  was  at  once  a 
eulogy  and  a  warning.  He  read  it  from  the  manuscript 
with  neither  gesture  nor  sign  of  emotion,  save  when  he 
turned  from  his  praise  of  the  first  President  to  denounce 
the  corruption,  extravagance,  and  dishonesty  of  dema¬ 
gogues,  or  to  attack  a  too  slavish  adherence  to  party  and 
partisan  interests. 

“If  your  observance  of  this  day,”  he  said,  “were  in¬ 
tended  to  make  more  secure  the  immortal  fame  of  Wash¬ 
ington,  or  to  add  to  the  strength  and  beauty  of  his  imper¬ 
ishable  monument  built  upon  a  nation’s  affectionate 
remembrance,  your  purpose  would  be  useless.  Washing¬ 
ton  has  no  need  of  you.  But  in  every  moment  from  the 
time  he  drew  his  sword  in  the  cause  of  American 
Independence  to  this  hour,  living  or  dead,  the  American 
people  have  needed  him.  It  is  not  important  now,  nor 
will  it  be  in  all  the  coming  years,  to  remind  our  country¬ 
men  that  Washington  has  lived.  ...  But  it  is  important 
— and  more  important  now  than  ever  before — that  they 
should  clearly  apprehend  and  adequately  value  the  vir¬ 
tues  and  ideal  of  which  he  was  the  embodiment.  .  .  . 
There  should  be  no  toleration  of  even  the  shade  of  a 
thought  that  what  Washington  did  and  said  and  wrote 
.  .  .  has  become  in  the  least  outworn,  or  that  in  these 
days  of  material  advance  and  development  they  may  be 


SUNSET  DAYS 


3.77 

merely  pleasantly  recalled  with  a  sort  of  affectionate 
veneration,  and  with  a  kind  of  indulgent  and  loftily  cour¬ 
teous  concession  of  the  value  of  Washington’s  example 
and  precepts.  These  constitute  the  richest  of  our  crown 
jewels.” 

In  the  evening  he  was  introduced  to  the  diners  at 
the  Union  League  Club  by  President  Charles  S.  Cutting, 
who  referred  to  the  question:  “What  shall  we  do  with 
our  ex-Presidents?”  Mr.  Cleveland’s  reply  was  a  genial 
comment  upon  the  solution  recently  proposed  by  a  promi¬ 
nent  editor-enemy:  “Take  him  out  into  a  five-acre  lot  and 
shoot  him.”  “That  proposition,”  he  said,  “has  never  had 
my  support.  In  the  first  place,  a  five-acre  lot  seems 
needlessly  large,  and  in  the  second  place  an  ex-President 
has  already  suffered  enough.  .  .  .” 

Mr.  Cleveland’s  delight  at  the  attentions  received  on 
his  sixty-ninth  anniversary  prompted  his  friends  to  un¬ 
dertake  a  larger  celebration  for  the  seventieth.  In  fact, 
they  dared  to  plan  a  national  observance  of  the  birthday 
of  the  man  who,  ten  years  before,  had  left  the  White 
House  a  fallen  leader,  with  few,  even  among  his  own 
party,  prepared  to  do  him  reverence.  Time,  the  revealer 
of  all  things,  had  dealt  kindly  with  his  fame,  until  now 
he  who  had  never  courted  favor,  even  within  his  own 
party,  found  it  in  both  parties. 

John  H.  Finley,  then  President  of  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  suggested  that  the  day  be  kept  as  the 
nation’s  “out-of-doors  day,”  and  a  flock  of  eager  reporters 
arrived  at  Princeton  to  request  Mr.  Cleveland’s  reaction 
to  the  suggestion.  They  were  received  with  cordiality, 
and  retired  primed  with  an  interview  upon  the  benefits 
of  the  simple  life. 

“I  look  with  apprehension,”  he  said,  “upon  the  mad 
rush  of  American  life,  which  is  certain  to  impair  the 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


378 

mental  and  physical  vigor  necessary  to  every  human  be¬ 
ing.  The  wholesome  sentiments  which  spring  from 
country  life  are  being  overwhelmed  by  the  ambitions 
and  tendencies  that  flow  out  from  our  great  cities.  Few 
have  the  hardihood  to  withstand  the  swirl  and  rush  of 
city  life,  or  to  remain  indifferent  to  the  promises  of  sud¬ 
den  wealth  and  the  excitement  of  speculation  in  a  metrop¬ 
olis,  where  immense  fortunes  are  made  and  lost  in  a 
single  day.  .  .  . 

“We  are  proud  of  our  cities,  of  course.  But  we  must 
not  allow  them  wholly  to  shape  our  ideals  and  our  am¬ 
bitions.  Nothing  that  the  wealth  of  a  city  can  buy  will 
atone  for  the  loss  of  that  American  sturdiness  and  inde¬ 
pendence  which  the  farm  and  the  small  town  have  so 
frequently  produced.  ...  In  my  experience  I  have  found 
that  impressions  which  a  man  receives  who  walks  by 
the  brookside  or  in  the  forest  or  by  the  seashore  make 
him  a  better  man  and  a  better  citizen.  They  lift  him 
above  the  worries  of  business  and  teach  him  of  a  power 
greater  than  human  power.” 

Just  before  his  birthday,  he  started  south  on  a  hunt¬ 
ing  trip,  thus  setting  a  good  example  to  the  millions  who 
were  asked  to  observe  “out-of-doors  day.”  Upon  his 
seventieth  birthday,  therefore,  only  one  letter  reached 
him;  but  that  one  made  all  others  unnecessary  to  his  con¬ 
tentment  : 

Princeton,  N.  J. 

March  IS,  1907. 

My  DEAREST: 

I  am  so  afraid  that  I  will  not  get  your  birthday  letter 
to  you  in  time  that  I  suppose  it  will  be  a  day  ahead! 
And  maybe  you  will  reach  home  anyway  and  so  not  get 
it,  but  in  that  case  I  think  I  might  be  able  to  express 


SUNSET  DAYS 


379 

my  birthday  thoughts  to  you.  I  hope  you  will  be  well 
on  Monday,  just  as  well  as  you  can  be,  then  things  will 
look  bright  to  you  and  your  new  year  will  begin  happily. 
Then  I  hope  you  will  keep  well,  and  it  will  go  a  long 
long  way  toward  making  your  year  happy.  I  hate  to 
have  you  away  on  your  birthday,  but  I  realize  that  it 
will  save  you  some  strain — for  many  people  seem  to  be 
thinking  of  you  at  this  time.  We  all  send  much  much 
love,  and  all  the  deepest  best  wishes  of  our  hearts — and 
my  heart  is  full  of  gratitude  for  what  the  years  of  your 
life  have  meant  to  me.  You  know  how  dearly  I  love 
you.  You  do  not  mind  my  saying  it  over,  any  day,  and 
you  won’t  mind  it  on  this  especial  day — so  I  repeat  it 
and  repeat  it,  and  I  ask  God’s  blessing  on  you  for  all 
the  days. 

Your  loving  wife 

Frank. 

The  oak  box  tells  the  tale  of  how  many  people  were 
thinking  of  him  on  his  seventieth  birthday,  and  of  how 
he  cherished  the  records  of  their  affection.  It  contains 
hundreds  of  letters  and  telegrams  from  men,  women,  and 
children  in  all  walks  of  life,  expressing  pride,  gratitude, 
and  affection  for  this  retired  leader  of  men.  One  of  the 
tributes  which  he  most  valued  was  an  editorial  in  the 
New  York  Sun ,  so  long  his  relentless  persecutor  and 
defamer.  It  declared:  “As  President,  Mr.  Cleveland 
enforced  the  laws  and  did  not  truckle  to  organized  vio¬ 
lence  or  crouch  before  public  clamor.  The  man  who 
taught  the  Chicago  labor  lords  that  there  was  a  Govern¬ 
ment  at  Washington,  the  man  who  wrote  the  Venezuela 
message,  is  sure  of  an  honorable  place  in  history  and  of 
the  final  approval  of  his  countrymen.”  In  sending  this 
editorial  to  Mr.  Cleveland,  Edwin  Packard  wrote:  “If 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


380 

Mr.  Dana  were  living,  I  think  that  even  he  would  make 
amends.” 

The  day  was  celebrated  at  Caldwell,  New  Jersey, 
by  the  unveiling  of  a  tablet  in  the  room  where  he  was 
born.  Unsentimental  though  he  appeared  to  the  out¬ 
sider,  his  heart  was  as  responsive  as  that  of  a  child,  de¬ 
spite  his  long  life  of  conflict;  and  this  mark  of  affection 
touched  the  deepest  emotions  of  his  nature.  To  Richard 
Watson  Gilder,  one  of  the  prime  movers  in  the  plan  to 
make  his  birthplace  also  his  memorial,  he  wrote: 

Princeton,  March  25,  IQOJ. 

My  dear  Mr.  Gilder  : 

It  was  a  complete  misfit — a  travesty  on  things  as  they 
should  be — that  I  should  be  disporting  in  balmy  air  and 
all  creature  comforts,  while  you  cold,  hungry,  and  miser¬ 
ably  forlorn,  were  finding  your  way  to  Caldwell,  for  the 
purpose  of  marking  the  time  and  place  of  my  birth.  You 
did  what  you  ought  not  to  have  done.  There  is  no  proc¬ 
ess  of  calculation  by  which  it  can  be  made  to  appear  a 
profitable  investment  for  you.  And  yet  when  men  reach 
the  age  of  seventy,  I  believe  their  mental  movements 
grow  self-centered  to  such  an  extent,  that  consciously  or 
unconsciously,  they  sort  of  believe  their  gratitude  to  be 
in  some  measure  compensatory  to  those  who  honor  them 
or  suffer  discomforts  on  their  behalf. 

I  am  so  new  to  this  venerable  age  of  seventy,  that  I 
cannot  tell  at  this  moment  how  much  I  am  under  the 
influence  of  this  idea.  But  my  dear  friend,  one  thing  I 
know:  Your  kindnesses  have  been  so  many,  and  have 
extended  through  so  many  years,  that  the  pages  set  apart 
for  their  record  are  full;  and  I  long  ago  abandoned  all 
hope  of  redeeming  the  one-sidedness  of  the  account. 

You  must  I  think  see  how  impossible  it  is  for  me  to 


SUNSET  DAYS 


do  more  than  to  say  to  you,  that  I  am  profoundly  moved 
by  the  conception  of  the  Caldwell  incident  and  by  the 
beauty*of  its  completed  manifestation.  It  stands  for  the 
thoughtfulness  and  affectionate  remembrance  of  friends 
nearer  my  heart  than  all  others. 

Yours  faithfully 

Grover  Cleveland. 


Richard  W.  Gilder 

Editor  of  The  Century  Magazine 
New  York. 


Among  the  many  verses  written  in  honor  of  the  day, 
are  the  following  by  Eliza  H.  Morton: 

“Time’s  hand  has  lightly  touched  thy  brow 
With  lines  of  care. 

And  as  he  touched,  he  whispered  ‘peace,’ 

And  stamped  it  there.” 


In  general,  his  own  reactions  were  less  serious.  To 
Commodore  Benedict  he  wrote,  when  the  day  was  over: 
“I  am  already  regarding  it  as  a  small  performance  to 
do  so  easy  a  trick.” 

So  successful  had  been  the  plan  to  encourage  a  nation¬ 
wide  crop  of  birthday  letters  that  he  found  it  impossible 
to  send  personal  acknowledgments.  He  therefore  in¬ 
serted  in  the  New  York  Times  the  following  grateful 
confession  of  helpless  appreciation:  “It  seems  to  be  im¬ 
possible  for  me  to  acknowledge,  except  through  the  press 
of  the  country,  the  generosity  and  kindly  consideration  of 
my  countrymen,  which  have  been  made  manifest  by  con¬ 
gratulatory  messages  and  newspaper  comment  on  the 
occasion  of  my  seventieth  birthday.  These  have  deeply 
touched  me,  and  in  the  book  of  grateful  recollection  they 
are  written  where  every  remaining  day  of  my  life  I  can 
turn  a  page  and  read  them.” 


382 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


The  drift  of  politics  during  the  next  few  months  left 
him  still  uncertain  which  national  organization  was  most 
entitled  to  be  called  by  disciples  of  the  “True  Democ¬ 
racy”  the  common  enemy.  Eagerly  he  watched  for 
signs  of  the  long-hoped-for  Democratic  redemption,  and 
found  none.  Bryanism  was  still  Democracy,  and  Cleve¬ 
land  was  as  unwilling  as  ever  to  acknowledge  the  iden¬ 
tity.  Of  Republican  regeneration  he  had  long  since 
ceased  even  to  dream,  for  the  promises  of  McKinleyism, 
which  his  influence  had  done  so  much  to  enthrone,  had 
bitterly  disappointed  him;  while  its  successor,  Roose- 
veltism,  had  never  appealed  to  him  as  having  even 
promise.  “Concerning  .  .  .  political  affairs,”  he  wrote 
to  Benedict,  on  August  17,  1907,  “I  feel  like  the  farmer 
who  started  at  the  bottom  of  a  hill  with  a  wagon  load  of 
corn  and  discovered  at  the  hill  top  that  every  grain  of 
his  load  had  slid  out  under  the  tail  board.  Though  of  a 
profane  temperament,  he  stood  mutely  surveying  his  dis¬ 
aster  until  to  a  passing  neighbor,  who  asked  him  why  he 
didn’t  swear,  he  replied:  ‘Because  by  God  I  cannot  do 
the  subject  justice.’  ” 

For  the  Commodore’s  further  delectation,  he  thus 
pictured  his  conception  of  the  politics  of  the  day,  in 
which  both  parties  looked  strangely  alike  to  him: 

“I  see  our  President  has  been  making  another  ‘Yes,  I 
guess  not’  speech  on  business,  corporations,  etc.,  and  has 
told  the  farmers  how  completely  they  should  have  the 
land  and  the  fullness  thereof;  Gov.  Hughes  seems  to  be 
attempting  neck-breaking  acrobatics;  Bryan  smiles  at 
both  of  them  while  performing  his  continuous  tight-rope 
dance;  and  Hearst  in  his  cage  of  wild  beasts  waits  his 
turn  to  surprise  and  shock  the  multitude — ‘Open  every 
hour  of  the  day  and  night  gentlemen;  wonderful  vaude¬ 
ville  performance — all  seen  under  one  tent.’  ” 


SUNSET  DAYS 


383 

He  did  not  hesitate  to  declare,  however,  that  if  Bryan 
should  be  again  nominated  by  the  Democrats,  he  would 
vote  for  a  Republican,  should  a  satisfactory  man  be 
selected.  When  pressed  for  his  opinion  as  to  “a  satis¬ 
factory  man,”  he  declared  that  he  would  consider  Secre¬ 
tary  Cortelyou  such  an  one,  and  added:  “I  know  of  no 
one  whom  I  could  more  heartily  and  conscientiously  sup¬ 
port.”  When  Colonel  John  J.  McCook  asked  him  to 
name  a  Democrat  whom  he  would  be  willing  to  support, 
he  replied,  “either  Harmon  or  Gray.” 

As  the  spring  approached,  the  political  atmosphere 
took  on  the  peculiar  tenseness  familiar  to  every  man  who 
has  dreamed  of  national  political  power;  and  the  hope¬ 
fulness  which  had  carried  him  through  so  many  appar¬ 
ently  desperate  political  battles  began  to  return,  despite 
his  physical  condition.  On  March  14th,  he  bared  his 
heart  to  his  old  friend,  E.  Prentiss  Bailey: 

“I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  idea  that  our  party,  which 
has  withstood  so  many  clashes  with  our  political  oppo¬ 
nents,  is  not  doomed  at  this  time  to  sink  to  a  condition 
of  useless  and  lasting  decadence.  In  my  last  letter  to  you 
I  expressed  myself  as  seeing  some  light  ahead  for  Democ¬ 
racy.  I  cannot  help  feeling  at  this  time  that  the  light  is 
still  brighter.  It  does  seem  to  me  that  movements  have 
been  set  in  motion  which,  though  not  at  the  present  time 
of  large  dimensions,  promise  final  relief  from  the  burden 
which  has  so  long  weighed  us  down.  I  have  lately  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  our  best  hope  rests  upon  the  nomi¬ 
nation  of  Johnson  of  Minnesota.  The  prospects  to  my 
mind  appear  as  bright  with  him  as  our  leader  as  with 
any  other,  and  whether  we  meet  with  success  or  not,  I 
believe  with  such  a  leader  we  shall  take  a  long  step  in 
the  way  of  returning  to  our  old  creed  and  the  old  policies 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


384 

and  the  old  pians  of  organization  which  have  heretofore 
led  us  to  victory. 

“I  received  a  letter  a  few  days  ago  from  Judge  Dona¬ 
hue  of  New  York,  an  old  war-horse  of  Democracy,  now 
84  years  old,  but  still  active  in  the  practice  of  his  profes¬ 
sion.  He  said  to  me  that,  though  he  was  by  a  number  of 
years  older  than  I,  he  not  only  hoped  but  expected  to  live 
to  see  a  Democratic  President  in  the  White  House.  I 
often  think  that  with  my  seventy-one  years  to  be  com¬ 
pleted  in  four  days  now,  such  a  hope  and  expectation  on 
my  part  can  hardly  be  reasonably  entertained;  but  I  con¬ 
fess  that  I  am  somewhat  ashamed  of  such  pessimistic  feel¬ 
ing  when  I  read  the  cheery  and  confident  words  con¬ 
tained  in  this  old  veteran’s  letter.  I  do  not  want  you 
to  suppose  that  a  feeling  of  pessimism  toward  political 
affairs  is  habitual  with  me.  On  the  contrary,  such  a  con¬ 
dition  of  mind  is  quite  infrequent  and  so  temporary  that 
it  yields  quickly  to  a  better  mood  and  a  settled  conviction 
that  our  party  before  many  years  will  march  from  the 
darkness  to  the  full  light  of  glorious  achievement.  .  . 

His  seventy-first  birthday — and  his  last — found  him 
with  strength  greatly  depleted  by  the  frequent  gastro¬ 
intestinal  attacks  complicated  by  organic  disease  of  the 
heart  and  kidneys  from  which  he  had  suffered,  with  in¬ 
creasing  violence,  for  many  years.  His  loss  of  vitality 
alarmed  his  family  and  his  physicians  who,  however, 
guarded  the  secret  that  his  condition  was  serious.  On 
April  14th,  Mrs.  Cleveland  wrote,  in  strict  confidence,  to 
George  F.  Parker :  “We  have  tried  not  to  have  it  known, 
but  he  has  had  another  attack  within  the  last  few  days. 
While  not  so  serious  in  itself,  it  came  so  soon  after  the  one 
preceding  that  he  was  not  so  strong  as  usual,  and  it  has 
left  him  in  much  weaker  condition.” 

As  the  days  passed  it  became  more  evident  that  he 


SUNSET  DAYS 


385 

could  not  rally  the  strength  to  resist  this  new  attack,  and 
he  prepared  to  face  the  final  battle  of  his  strenuous  life; 
but  with  little  hope  of  earthly  victory.  His  affairs  were 
in  order.  He  awaited  his  summons. 

“During  these  last  weeks,”  writes  his  sister,  Mrs.  Yeo¬ 
mans,  “he  sent  to  his  old  home  for  one  of  the  worn  hymn 
books  that  were  used  at  family  prayers  in  his  boyhood.” 
His  mind  instinctively  reverted  to  the  early  lessons  of 
hope  which  had  been  the  inspiration  of  his  life.  “As 
weakness  more  encroached,”  wrote  St.  Clair  McKelway, 
“he  faced  toward  the  inevitable  with  trust  in  the  Al¬ 
mighty  and  with  good  will  to  mankind.  The  intent  look 
which  often  came  into  his  face  was  not  due  to  appre¬ 
hension.” 

On  June  24,  1908,  at  8.40  in  the  morning  he  died,  as 
he  had  often  expressed  the  wish  to  die,  in  his  Princeton 
home,  with  his  beloved  wife  beside  him.  His  parting 
words  are  the  key  to  his  life:  “I  have  tried  so  hard  to 
do  right.” 

His  body  was  buried  in  the  old  Princeton  Cemetery 
two  days  later,  just  as  the  setting  sun  touched  the  rim  of 
the  horizon.  There,  to-day,  stands  his  simple  grave¬ 
stone,  a  shaft  of  granite  on  which  is  carved: 

Grover  Cleveland 
Born  Caldwell,  N.  J. 

March  1 8th,  1837 
Died  Princeton,  N.  J. 

June  24th,  1908. 

A  mile  away  rises  his  national  monument,  the  Cleve¬ 
land  Memorial  Tower,  erected  by  the  contributions  of 
men  and  women  of  varied  races  and  political  affiliations, 
many  of  whom  had  never  seen  his  face,  but  all  of  whom 
wished  thus  to  pay  their  homage  to  a  great  American. 


386 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Living,  he  dared  to  disregard  party  in  the  service  of 
principle.  Dying,  he  named  no  party  as  his  heir.  Dead, 
no  party  and  no  faction  can  fairly  claim  a  monopoly  of 
the  glory  with  which  the  advancing  years  are  steadily 
crowning  his  memory. 

In  the  little  oak  box  by  his  bedside  was  found  a  copy 
of  Whittier’s  beautiful  poem,  “At  Last” : 

“When  on  my  day  of  life  the  night  is  falling, 

And,  in  the  winds  from  unsunned  spaces  blown, 

I  hear  far  voices  out  of  darkness  calling 
My  feet  to  paths  unknown, 

Thou,  who  hast  made  my  home  of  life  so  pleasant, 

Leave  not  its  tenant  when  its  walls  decay; 

O  Love  Divine,  O  Helper  ever  present, 

Be  Thou  my  strength  and  stay!” 


SOURCES 


A.  Primary  Sources. 

Partly  in  manuscript  form;  partly  in  the  form  of 
printed  documents.  The  manuscripts  consist  chiefly  of 
memoranda,  diaries,-  letters  written  by  Mr.  Cleveland, 
and  those  written  to  him,  speeches,  etc.,  etc. 

The  printed  primary  sources  are  chiefly  public  docu¬ 
ments,  city,  county,  state  or  national,  which  have  been 
published  either  as  public  archives  or  as  private  collec¬ 
tions. 

Mr.  Cleveland,  as  have  all  our  Presidents,  left  an 
enormous  mass  of  manuscript  material,  but  he  left  it  in 
chaotic  condition.  The  papers  were  packed  into  rough 
wooden  boxes,  without  systematic  arrangement,  the  im¬ 
portant  and  the  unimportant  thrown  together;  and  many 
of  the  most  valuable  manuscripts  contain  neither  title, 
date,  nor  other  indication  of  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  prepared.  In  most  cases,  except  personal  letters, 
the  very  authorship  of  the  manuscript  would  be  in  doubt 
but  for  the  fact  that  all  are  written  in  “copper  plate,”  as 
he  called  his  own  neat  but  distressingly  illegible  hand¬ 
writing.  Practically  every  letter,  message,  proclamation, 
executive  order,  even  the  publicity  notices  and  the  suc¬ 
cessive  copies  of  addresses  often  revised,  are  wholly  in 
his  own  hand. 

He  apparently  made  no  attempt  to  keep  his  files  com¬ 
plete,  and  frequently  the  only  copy  of  an  important  docu¬ 
ment  was  given  to  some  friend  who  wished  a  specimen 
of  his  handwriting. 

The  forty  or  fifty  thousand  miscellaneous  documents, 

387 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


388 

mostly  letters  to  the  President,  but  including  the  final 
copies  of  many  of  his  presidential  messages,  which  he 
brought  from  Washington  at  the  end  of  his  public  life, 
he  stored  in  a  wing  of  Colonel  Lamont’s  country  house  at 
Millbrook,  New  York,  and  apparently  forgot.  These, 
with  a  collection  of  thirty  thousand  manuscripts  from  the 
Library  of  Congress,  and  a  smaller  one  from  the  attic  of 
his  Princeton  home,  constitute  the  bulk  of  the  manuscript 
sources  upon  which  his  biography  has  been  based. 

I.  THE  CLEVELAND  MANUSCRIPTS 

(1)  Memoranda  from  the  following: 

(a)  Mr.  Cleveland’s  sisters,  Mrs.  Yeo¬ 
mans  and  Mrs.  Bacon:  sketches  of  his  child¬ 
hood  days,  giving  glimpses  such  as  only  the 
members  of  his  own  family  could  give. 

(b)  Richard  Watson  Gilder,  one  of  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  most  intimate  friends:  a  collec¬ 
tion  of  notes  made  immediately  after  impor¬ 
tant  conversations  with  Mr.  Cleveland.  They 
are  written  upon  the  backs  of  envelopes,  or 
stray  scraps  of  paper  of  odd  sizes  and  irregu¬ 
lar  shapes.  Many  of  them  are  almost  illeg¬ 
ible,  but  all  are  worth  the  trouble  of  decipher¬ 
ing. 

(c)  John  G.  Milburn,  an  eminent  lawyer, 
whose  friendship  extended  back  into  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  Buffalo  days:  a  series  of  com¬ 
ments  upon  important  incidents  in  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land’s  public  and  private  life. 

(d)  Milburn  and  Locke:  documents  used 
by  John  G.  Milburn  and  Franklin  Day  Locke 
in  the  trial  of  a  suit  brought  by  the  Rev. 
George  H.  Ball  against  the  Evening  Post 


SOURCES  389 

Publishing  Company,  and  involving  the 
famous  case  of  Maria  Halpin. 

(e)  A  committee  of  sixteen  Republicans 
and  Independents:  a  report  upon  the  personal 
character  of  Grover  Cleveland,  made  to  the 
Mugwump  National  Committee  during  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1884. 

(f)  The  Reverend  Wilton  Merle-Smith: 
bearing  upon  Mr.  Cleveland’s  religious  views. 

(g)  William  B.  Hornblower,  with  a  sup¬ 
plementary  memorandum  prepared  from 
Judge  Hornblower’s  papers  by  his  son, 
George  Hornblower:  especial  reference  to  the 
circumstances  connected  with  Judge  Horn- 
blower’s  appointment  as  an  Associate  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  his  rejection  by 
the  Senate. 

(h)  Otto  Gresham,  son  of  Secretary  of 
State  Gresham:  relating  to  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
dealings  with  currency  problems,  and  espe¬ 
cially  with  the  question  of  his  influence  upon 
the  currency  declarations  of  the  Republican 
National  Convention  of  1896. 

(i)  Many  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  friends  or 
close  associates,  including  Elihu  Root, 
Charles  W.  Eliot,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Edward 
W.  Hatch,  Thomas  Cary,  Chauncey  M. 
Depew,  Adlai  E.  Stevenson,  etc.,  etc.:  brief 
memoranda  relating  to  particular  incidents  or 
impressions. 

Diaries: 

A  small  pocket  diary,  in  pencil,  beginning 
August  27,  1898,  and  ending  September  27, 
1905.  It  contains  122  closely  written  pages. 


390 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Most  of  the  entries  relate  to  fishing.  Diaries 
for  the  years  1 898,  1899,  1901,  1903,  1904,  and 
1905.  Many  of  the  pages  are  left  blank,  many 
contain  only  a  few  lines  of  notes,  but  they  are 
of  sufficient  biographical  value  to  cause  regret 
that  the  volumes  for  1900  and  1902  are 
missing. 

(3)  Letters: 

For  the  most  part  Grover  Cleveland’s  let¬ 
ters  were  gathered  from  garrets  and  dusty  pri¬ 
vate  files  all  over  the  land.  Their  locations 
were  discovered  by  studying  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
own  personal  papers,  noting  the  names  of  all 
persons  with  whom  he  appeared  to  have  been 
upon  terms  making  likely  a  personal  corre¬ 
spondence,  and  writing  to  the  persons  in  ques¬ 
tion,  or  to  descendants  or  relatives.  In  this 
way  about  1300  manuscript  letters  were  re¬ 
covered  : 

(a)  Letters  to  Cabinet  members: 

102  to  Wilson  S.  Bissell;  38  to  Judson  Har¬ 
mon;  29  to  Don  M.  Dickinson;  120  to  Daniel 
S.  Lamont;  117  to  Richard  T.  Olney;  90  all 
told  to  the  following:  William  C.  Endicott, 
Walter  Q.  Gresham,  Charles  S.  Fairchild, 
Thomas  F.  Bayard,  William  F.  Vilas. 

(b)  Letters  to  personal  friends,  acquaint¬ 


ances,  etc.: 
Louis  L.  Babcock 
E.  Prentiss  Bailey 
Commodore  E.  C.  Benedict 
Mrs.  W.  Cabell  Bruce 
Dr.  Joseph  B.  Bryant 
Andrew  Carnegie 


Thomas  Cary 
Mrs.  Julius  C.  Chambers 
Mrs.  Robert  W.  Chapin 
Joseph  H.  Choate 
James  Freeman  Clarke 
William  Clausen 


SOURCES 


391 


George  B.  Cortelyou 
Frederic  R.  Coudert 
Paul  D.  Cravath 
Mrs.  A.  B.  Creasey 
William  J.  Curtis 
L.  Clarke  Davis 
Bernard  S.  Deutsch 
Mrs.  Louis  R.  Ehrich 
Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot 


George  W.  Hayward 
D-Cady  Herrick 
F.  W.  Hinrichs 
William  B.  Hornblower 
Joseph  Jefferson 
Daniel  M.  Lockwood 
Dr.  Wilton  Merle-Smith 
Alton  B.  Parker 
George  F.  Parker 


Admiral  Robley  D.  Evans  Theodore  Roosevelt 
A.  B.  Farquhar  Edward  M.  Shepard 

Dr.  John  H.  Finley  Oscar  Straus 

Mrs.  Roderick  E.  Fletcher  Henry  T.  Thurber 
Colonel  David  M.  Flynn  Mrs.  Charles  Tracy 


Cardinal  Gibbons 
Richard  Watson  Gilder 
A.  C.  Goodyear 
John  Temple  Graves 
John  S.  Green 
M.  D.  Harter 


Lambert  Tree 
Dr.  Samuel  B.  Ward 
Dean  Andrew  Fleming  West 
A.  A.  Wilson 
Woodrow  Wilson 
Dr.  Charles  Wood 
Of  these,  the  letters  to  Commodore  Bene¬ 
dict  alone  number  279,  and  all  touch  upon  the 
lighter  things  of  life:  fishing,  hunting,  boat¬ 
ing,  cribbage,  etc. 

Mr.  Julian  B.  Beaty,  Mr.  Cleveland’s  pri¬ 
vate  secretary  in  1904,  kindly  reproduced 
from  his  notebooks  copies  of  115  letters  dic¬ 
tated  by  Mr.  Cleveland  during  that  year;  Mr. 
George  S.  Bixby,  the  biographer  of  David  B. 
Hill,  sent  a  considerable  collection  which 
Mr.  Cleveland  wrote  to  Mr.  Hill  during  the 
years  of  political  association;  and  Mrs.  H.  F. 
Reid  sent  nineteen  letters  and  one  telegram  to 
Ernest  Gittings. 


392 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


In  these  letters  we  see  the  man  himself, 
simple,  frank,  and  fearless,  with  the  spirit 
of  a  crusader  humanized  by  a  sense  of  humor 
and  a  gift  for  friendship.  Without  them  it 
would  be  difficult  to  picture  him,  for  his  for¬ 
mal  papers  are  one  and  all  wholly  impersonal. 

II.  PRINTED  SOURCES. 

(i)  State  Collections 

Public  Papers  of  Grover  Cleveland  as  Gov¬ 
ernor,  one  volume  for  1883  and  one  volume 
for  1884.  Argus  Co.,  1883  and  1884.  There 
is  a  later  edition  in  which  the  two  years  are 
bound  together  in  one  volume. 

^2)  Federal  Collections 

The  documents  sent  by  President  Cleve¬ 
land  to  Congress,  in  connection  with  his  vari¬ 
ous  messages,  are  printed  in  the  records  of 
Congress,  and  are  far  too  numerous  for  de¬ 
tailed  discussion.  The  following  are  cited  as 
having  special  reference  to  outstanding  ques¬ 
tions  of  foreign  policy: 

(a)  The  Samoan  Affair.  The  chief  docu¬ 
ments  are  in: 

( 1st)  House  Exec.  Doc.,  164,  44th 
Congress,  1st  Session,  which  gives  the 
political  history  of  Samoa.  Foreign 
Relations,  1894,  Appx.  I,  for  Bates 
report. 

(2d)  Foreign  Relations,  1889,  pp. 
204-231,  for  texts  of  protocols  on 
Samoan  Conferences  among  Euro¬ 
pean  nations. 


SOURCES  393 

(3d)  House  Exec.  Doc.,  238,  50th 
Congress,  1st  Session. 

(4th)  Senate  Exec.  Doc.,  31,  50th 
Congress,  2d  Session;  Senate  Exec. 
Doc.,  68,  50th  Congress,  2d  Session. 

(b)  The  Hawaiian  Affair: 

(1st)  Foreign  Relations,  1891. 
(2d)  Foreign  Relations,  1894, 
Appx.  II. 

(3d)  Foreign  Relations,  Volume 
VI. 

(4th)  House  Exec.  Doc.,  130, 

49th  Congress,  2d  Session,  Volume 
XXIII. 

(5th)  House  Exec.  Doc.,  48,  53rd 
Congress,  2d  Session. 

(c)  The  Venezuelan  Affair : 

(1st)  The  British  Blue  Book,  97, 
1896. 

(2d)  Senate  Exec.  Doc.,  31,  54th 
Congress,  1st  Session. 

(3d)  Senate  Exec.  Doc.,  226,  50th 
Congress,  1st  Session. 

(4th)  Senate  Miscellaneous 
Docs.,  54th  Congress,  1st  Session, 
Volume  I. 

(3th)  The  British-Venezuelan 
Treaty,  which  ended  the  controversy, 
is  in  Foreign  Relations,  1896,  p.  254. 
(3)  Miscellaneous  Collections 

(a)  The  Public  Papers  of  Grover  Cleve¬ 
land,  Twenty-Second  President  of  the  United 
States,  March  4,  1885,  t0  March  4,  1889. 


394 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Washington  Government  Printing  Office, 
1889. 

(b)  Writings  and  Speeches  of  Grover 

Cleveland ,  edited  by  George  F.  Parker.  Cas¬ 
sell  Publishing  Co.,  New  York,  1892.  571 

pages.  A  collection  of  Cleveland  documents, 
1881  to  1892,  arranged  according  to  topics. 

(c)  Principles  and  Purposes  of  our  Form 

of  Government  as  Set  Forth  in  the  Public  Pa¬ 
pers  of  Grover  Cleveland.  Compiled  by  Fran¬ 
cis  Gottsberger.  George  G.  Peck,  New  York, 
1892.  187  pages  of  extracts  from  Grover 

Cleveland’s  speeches,  letters,  and  public  pa¬ 
pers  from  1885  to  1892,  without  editorial 
comment. 

(d)  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presi¬ 
dents.  Edited  by  James  D.  Richardson. 
Government  Printing  Office,  Washington, 
1896  et  seq.  Volumes  VIII  and  IX  contain 
the  official  executive  documents  issued  by  Mr. 
Cleveland  as  President. 

(e)  The  Public  Papers  of  Grover  Cleve¬ 
land,  Twenty-Fourth  President  of  the  United 
States,  March  4,  1893,  to  March  4,  1897. 
Government  Printing  Office,  Washington, 
1897. 

(f)  Letters  and  Addresses  of  Grover 
Cleveland.  Edited  by  Albert  Ellery  Bergh. 
The  Unit  Book  Publishing  Co.,  New  York, 
1909.  One  vol.  499  pages.  The  most  com¬ 
plete  general  collection  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
papers. 


SOURCES 


395 


B  Secondary  Sources 

Mr.  Cleveland’s  own  books,  pamphlets,  and  articles 
written  for  publication;  scrapbooks  of  newspaper  clip¬ 
pings;  innumerable  biographies,  genealogical  studies, 
magazine  articles,  and  pamphlets,  published  during  his 
life  and  since  his  death;  and  a  vast  mass  of  literature  con¬ 
taining  incidental  reference  to  him.  These  are  obviously 
too  numerous  to  be  catalogued  exhaustively,  but  the  fol¬ 
lowing  list  will  be  found  adequate  to  most  demands : 

I.  WRITTEN  FOR  PUBLICATION  BY  GROVER  CLEVELAND 

(i)  Books,  pamphlets,  etc. 

(a)  What  Shall  We  Do  with  It?  (mean¬ 
ing  the  surplus).  Taxation  and  revenue  dis¬ 
cussed  by  President  Cleveland,  J.  G.  Blaine, 
H.  Watterson,  etc.  Harper  &  Bros.,  New 
York,  1888. 

(b)  Thou  Shalt  Not  Steal.  A  few  words 
on  the  tariff  by  Grover  Cleveland,  W.  E.  Rus¬ 
sell,  etc.  A.  J.  Philpott  &  Co.,  Boston,  1892. 
29  pages. 

(c)  Cleveland  on  the  Money  Question. 
Washington,  D.  C.,  1895.  4  pages. 

(d)  The  Self  made  Man  in  American 
Life.  T.  Y.  Crowell  &  Co.,  New  York,  1897. 

(e)  The  Defense  of  Fishermen.  Privately 
printed,  Princeton,  N.  J.,  1902.  13  pages. 

(f)  Presidential  Problems.  Century  Co., 
New  York,  1904.  One  vol.  281  pages.  A 
painstaking  description  of  the  major  conflicts 
of  his  second  term.  The  chapters  are  in  es¬ 
sence  republications  of  his  Stafford  Little 
Lectures  at  Princeton  University,  which  are 
available  also  in  the  form  of  booklets  printed 


396 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


by  the  Princeton  University  Press  under  the 
following  titles : 

(ist)  The  Venezuelan  Boundary 
Controversy,  1913,  first  printed  as  ar¬ 
ticles  in  the  Century  Magazine,  June 
and  July,  1901,  Vol.  LXII. 

(2d)  The  Government  in  the  Chi¬ 
cago  Strike,  1913. 

(3d)  The  Independence  of  the 
Executive,  1913. 

(g)  Fishing  and  Shooting  Sketches .  Il¬ 
lustrated  by  Henry  S.  Watson.  The  Outing 
Publishing  Co.,  New  York,  1906. 

(h)  In  the  Matter  of  State  Legislation 
Limiting  the  Compensation  of  Officers  of  In¬ 
surance  Companies .  Brief  in  opposition 
thereto.  New  York,  1907.  11  pages. 

(i)  Compulsory  Investment  Legislation . 
Some  considerations  as  to  legislation  requir¬ 
ing  life  insurance  companies  to  make  invest¬ 
ments  in  certain  states  in  which  they  are  do¬ 
ing  business.  The  Association  of  Life  Insur¬ 
ance  Presidents,  New  York,  1907.  8  pages. 

(2)  Magazine  and  Newspaper  Articles 

(a)  In  the  Saturday  Evening  Post: 

“Does  a  College  Education  Pay?” 
May  23,  1900. 

“The  Plight  of  the  Democracy,” 
December  22,  1900. 

“The  Young  Man  in  Politics,” 
January  26,  1901. 

“The  Uses  of  Adversity,”  March  9, 
1901. 


SOURCES 


3.97 

“Strength  and  Needs  of  Civil  Serv¬ 
ice  Reform/’  March  30,  1901. 
“The  Waste  of  Public  Money,” 
June  1,  1901. 

“The  Safety  of  the  President,” 
October  3,  1901. 

“A  Defense  of  Fishermen,”  Octo¬ 
ber  19,  1901. 

“The  Serene  Duck  Hunter,”  April 
26,  1902. 

“The  President  and  His  Patron¬ 
age,”  May  24,  1902. 

“The  Shadow  of  the  City,”  Septem¬ 
ber  19,  1903. 

“The  Mission  of  Fishing  and  Fish¬ 
ermen,”  December  3,  1903. 

“The  Democracy’s  Opportunity,” 
February  20,  1904. 

“The  Cleveland  Bond  Issues,”  May 

7,  1904. 

“Some  Fishing  Pretenses  and  Af¬ 
fectations,”  September  24,  1904. 
“Why  a  Young  Man  Should  Vote 
the  Democratic  Ticket,”  October 

8,  1904. 

“Old-Fashioned  Honesty  and  the 
Coming  Man,”  August  5,  1905. 
“Directors  That  Do  Not  Direct,” 
December  1,  1906. 

By  far  the  most  important  of  these 
articles  is  the  one  on  the  Cleveland 
Bond  Issues.  Its  sub-title  shows  the 
character  of  the  article:  “A  detailed 
history  of  the  crime  charged  against 


398 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


an  administration  that  issued  bonds  of 
the  government  in  time  of  peace.”  It 
is  about  10,000  words  in  length  and 
gives  Mr.  Cleveland’s  interpretation 
of  the  circumstances  which  made  the 
bpnd  issues  necessary.  The  original 
MS.  is  among  the  Cleveland  papers. 

In  the  New  York  World  of  May 
15,  1904,  appears  a  detailed  reply  to 
Mr.  Cleveland’s  arguments. 

(b)  In  the  Youth's  Companion: 

“The  Civic  Responsibility  of 
Youth,”  July  2,  1903. 

“The  Country  Lawyer  in  National 
Affairs,”  February  8,  1906. 

“Our  People  and  Their  Ex-Presi¬ 
dents,”  January  2,  1908. 

Jc)  In  th e  Ladies’ Home  Journal: 

“Woman’s  Mission  and  Woman’s 
Clubs,”  May,  1905. 

“Would  Woman’s  Suffrage  Be  Un¬ 
wise?”  October,  1905. 

“The  Honest  American  Marriage, 
A  Plea  for  Home-Building,” 
October,  1906. 

(d)  In  the  Independent: 

“Summer  Shooting,”  June  2,  1904. 

“A  Word  Concerning  Rabbit 
Hunting,”  June  1,  1905. 

(e)  In  Collier’s: 

“Steady,  Democrats,  Steady,”  July 
23,  1904. 

(f )  In  the  Pacific  Monthly: 


SOURCES 


399 

“The  Plight  of  Democracy  and  the 
Remedy,”  January,  1901. 

(g)  In  the  New  York  World,  Sunday 
Editorial  Section,  March  15,  1903: 

“Adversity  as  an  Aid  to  Success.” 

II.  WRITTEN  FOR  PUBLICATION  BY  OTHERS 
(1)  Scrapbooks: 

(a)  The  White  House  Scrapbooks,  forty 
volumes,  containing  clippings  from  daily  and 
weekly  papers  and  magazines.  In  general 
these  clippings  are  grouped  into  volumes  ac¬ 
cording  to  topics,  four  volumes  dealing 
wholly  with  Civil  Service  Reforms,  etc.,  etc. 

(b)  Wedding  Scrapbooks,  three  large  vol¬ 
umes  containing  a  varied  assortment  of  clip¬ 
pings  and  pictures  relating  to  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
wedding.  They  were  made  by  friends  at  the 
time  of  the  wedding  and  subsequently  pre¬ 
sented  to  the  President. 

(c)  The  Fairchild  Scrapbooks,  three  vol¬ 
umes,  containing  newspaper  clippings  and 
press  copies  of  letters  relating  chiefly  to  the 
history  of  the  campaign  of  1892. 

(d)  The  McKelway  Scrapbooks,  a  set  of 
about  a  dozen  large  folio  volumes,  containing 
chiefly  articles  and  editorials  written  by  Mr. 
McKelway,  as  editor  of  the  Brooklyn  Eagle . 
As  Mr.  McKelway  was  an  intimate  friend  and 
a  strong  political  supporter  of  Mr.  Cleveland, 
these  volumes  are  rich  in  biographical  ma¬ 
terial. 

(e)  George  F.  Parker  Scrapbook  of  the 
Presidential  Campaign  of  1884,  made  up 


400 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


chiefly  of  clippings  from  the  New  York 
World ,  and  containing  many  Cleveland  car¬ 
toons. 

(f)  20th  Century  Press  Clipping  Bureau 
of  Chicago  Scrapbook,  covering  the  incidents 
of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  visit  to  Chicago  in  Octo¬ 
ber,  1903. 

(g)  New  York  Public  Library  Scrap¬ 
book  of  the  death  of  Grover  Cleveland.  New 
York,  1908. 

(h)  Princeton  University  Library  Scrap¬ 
book,  devoted  wholly  to  clippings  concerning 
Mr.  Cleveland’s  death. 

(2)  Biographies: 

(a)  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Grover 
Cleveland.  By  Pendleton  King.  G.  P.  Put¬ 
nam’s  Sons,  New  York,  1884.  224  pages. 

(b)  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Grover 
Cleveland .  By  Honorable  William  Dors- 
heimer.  Hubbard  Brothers,  Philadelphia, 
1884.  A  new  and  enlarged  edition  was  pre¬ 
pared  by  W.  U.  Hensel,  in  preparation  for  the 
Campaign  of  1888.  Hubbard  Brothers, 
Philadelphia.  One  vol.  588  pages. 

(c)  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Grover 
Cleveland  and  Thomas  A.  Hendricks.  By 
Chauncey  F.  Black.  Thayer,  Merriam  &  Co., 
Philadelphia,  1884. 

(d)  B  uilding  and  Ruling  the  Republic . 
By  James  P.  Boyd.  Garretson,  Philadelphia, 
1884.  Part  4- 

(e)  Campaign  of  1 884*  Biographies  of 
S .  Grover  Cleveland ,  and  Thomas  A.  Hen - 


SOURCES  4OI 

dricks .  By  Benjamin  Le  Fevre.  Fireside 
Publishing  Co.,  Philadelphia,  1884. 

(f)  The  Authorized  Pictorial  Lives  of 
Stephen  Grover  Cleveland  and  Thomas  An¬ 
drews  Hendricks.  By  Frank  Triplett.  N.  D. 
Thompson  &  Co.,  Publishers,  New  York  and 
St.  Louis,  1884.  One  vol.  568  pages. 

(g)  Stephen  Grover  Cleveland.  By 
Deshler  Welch.  J.  W.  Lovell  Co.,  New  York, 
1884.  222  pages.  Also  published  under  the 
title  Life  of  Grover  Cleveland ,  Worthing¬ 
ton,  New  York,  1884. 

(h)  Early  Life  and  Public  Services  of 
Hon.  Grover  Cleveland,  the  fearless  and  in¬ 
dependent  Governor  of  the  Empire  State,  and 
candidate  for  President.  .  .  .  Also  the  Life  of 
Hon.  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  candidate  for 
Vice-President.  By  Thomas  W.  Handford. 
Caxton  Publishing  Co.,  Chicago  and  New 
York,  1884.  510  pages. 

(i)  The  Life  of  Honorable  Grover  Cleve¬ 
land,  including  his  early  days,  District  At¬ 
torneyship,  Mayoralty  of  Buffalo,  Governor¬ 
ship  of  New  York,  nomination  at  Chicago. 
Edited  by  J.  B.  McClure.  Rhodes  and  Mc¬ 
Clure,  Chicago,  1884.  One  vol.  218  pages. 

(j)  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Grover 
Cleveland,  with  incidents  of  his  early  life,  and 
an  account  of  his  rise  to  eminence  in  his  pro¬ 
fession;  also  containing  his  addresses  and  offi¬ 
cial  documents  as  Mayor  of  the  City  of 
Buffalo,  and  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  By  Frederick  E.  Goodrich.  B.  B. 
Russell,  Boston,  1884.  One  vol.  504  pages. 


402 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


A  valuable  campaign  biography.  Abundantly 
supplied  with  copies  of  documents  accurately 
transcribed,  many  of  which  are  not  easily 
available  elsewhere.  As  a  campaign  biog¬ 
raphy,  however,  it  is  history  written  with  the 
intention  of  making  the  Democratic  party  ap¬ 
pear  spotless  and  the  Republican  party  crook¬ 
ed  and  unreliable,  a  thesis  scarcely  consistent 
with  fact  in  that  period  of  the  history  of  New 
York  or  of  the  United  States. 

(k)  A  Man  of  Destiny .  Edited  by  W.  P. 
Nixon.  Belford,  Clarke  &  Co.,  Chicago, 
1885.  226  pages. 

(l)  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Grover 
Cleveland .  By  William  U.  Hensel  and 
George  F.  Parker.  Guernsey  Publishing  Co., 
Philadelphia,  1888  and  1892. 

(m)  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Our 
Great  Reform  President ,  Grover  Cleveland . 
By  Col.  Herman  Dieck.  J.  Dewing  &  Co., 
San  Francisco,  1888.  Also  S.  I.  Bell  &  Co., 
Philadelphia.  554  pages. 

(n)  Age  of  Cleveland .  By  Harold  Ful¬ 
ton  Ralphdon.  F.  A.  Stokes  &  Bros.,  New 
York,  1888.  135  pages.  Compiled  from  con¬ 
temporary  journals.  Copy  in  Library  of« 
Congress. 

(0)  Grover  Cleveland.  ByWm.O.  Stod¬ 
dard.  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Co.,  New  York, 
1888.  One  vol.  263  pages.  The  best  cam¬ 
paign  biography  of  Grover  Cleveland,  cover¬ 
ing  a  much  wider  field  than  thaL  of  Frederick 
E.  Goodrich,  the  only  one  comparable  to  it. 

(p)  Distinguished  American  Lawyers . 


SOURCES  403 

By  Henry  W.  Scott.  Webster,  New  York, 

1891.  “Grover  Cleveland,”  pp.  161-172. 

(q)  The  History  of  the  Democratic  Party 
from  Thomas  Jefferson  to  Grover  Cleveland . 
.  .  .  Lives  of  Cleveland  and  Stevenson.  By 
Chandos  Fulton.  P.  F.  Collier,  New  York, 

1892.  608  pages. 

(r)  Life  and  Public  Services  of  Grover 
Cleveland .  By  William  U.  Hensel.  Edge- 
wood  Publishing  Co.,  Philadelphia,  1892. 
556  pages. 

(s)  A  Life  of  Grover  Cleveland,  with  a 
sketch  of  Adlai  E.  Stevenson.  By  George 
Frederick  Parker.  Cassell  Publishing  Co., 
New  York,  1892.  333  pages. 

(t)  Cleveland  and  Stevenson,  Their  Lives 
and  Record .  The  Democratic  campaign  book 
for  1892,  with  a  handbook  of  American  poli¬ 
tics  up  to  date,  and  a  cyclopedia  of  presiden¬ 
tial  biography.  Compiled  by  Thos.  Camp- 
bell-Copeland.  C.  L.  Webster  &  Co.,  New 
York,  1892.  One  vol.  438  pages. 

(u)  Grover  Cleveland.  By  James  Lowry 
Whittle.  Bliss,  Sands  &  Co.,  London,  1896. 
F.  Warne  &  Co.,  New  York,  1896.  One  vol. 
240  pages.  In  series,  “Public  Men  of  Today.” 
A  badly  digested  sketch  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
life.  Its  strong  British  point  of  view  appears 
especially  in  Chapter  XIV,  “America  and 
Great  Britain,”  where  the  chief  topic  is  the 
Venezuelan  controversy.  It  is  a  volume  of 
what  is  called  popular  history,  showing  little 
research  and  no  special  grace  of  style  or  con¬ 
ception. 


4°4 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


(v)  Four  Great  American  Presidents , 
Garfield,  McKinley,  Cleveland ,  Roosevelt . 
J.  M.  Stradling  &  Co.,  New  York,  1903.  309 
pages. 

(w)  Recollections  of  Grover  Cleveland . 
By  George  F.  Parker.  Century  Co.,  New 
York,  1909.  One  vol.  427  pages.  A  book  of 
considerable  interest,  containing  the  personal 
recollections  of  a  man  closely  associated  with 
Mr.  Cleveland,  especially  during  the  latter 
years  of  his  life.  It  contains  many  personal 
letters  not  elsewhere  attainable.  The  same 
author  has  written  many  magazine  articles 
about  Mr.  Cleveland,  notably  a  series  in  the 
Saturday  Evening  Post  ending  in  1923,  and  an 
earlier  series  in  McClure's  Magazine,  as  fol¬ 
lows: 

( 1st)  “Cleveland  the  Man.”  The 
first  administration  and  the  second 
campaign,  v.  32,  pp.  337-346- 

(2d)  “Cleveland’s  Estimate  of 
His  Contemporaries.”  v.  33,  pp. 
24-34- 

(3d)  “Cleveland’s  Opinion  of 
Men.”  v.  32,  pp.  569-581. 

(4th)  “Cleveland’s  Venezuela 
Message.”  v.  33,  pp.  314-323. 

(x)  Mr.  Cleveland,  A  Personal  Impres¬ 
sion.  By  Jesse  Lynch  Williams.  Dodd, 
Mead  &  Co.,  New  York,  1909. 

(y)  Grover  Cleveland  ,  A  Record  of 
Friendship.  By  Richard  Watson  Gilder. 
Century  Co.,  New  York,  1910.  First  printed 
as  articles  in  the  Century  Magazine,  New 


SOURCES 


405 

York,  1909,  v.  78,  pp.  483-503,  687-705,  846- 
860;  v.  79,  pp.  24-31.  An  artistic  little  vol¬ 
ume,  of  much  literary  merit;  depicting  the 
human  side  of  Grover  Cleveland. 

(z)  Grover  Cleveland ,  A  Study  in  Polit¬ 
ical  Courage.  By  Roland  Hugins.  The 
Anchor-Lee  Publishing  Co.,  Washington, 

D.  C.,  1922. 

(3)  Genealogical  Works : 

(a)  A  Genealogy  of  Benjamin  Cleveland , 
the  Great-Grandson  of  Moses  Cleveland  of 
Woburn.  By  Horace  Gillette  Cleveland. 
Rand  McNally  &  Co.,  Chicago,  1879. 

(b)  A  Genealogical  Register  of  the  De¬ 
scendants  of  Moses  Cleveland  of  Woburn , 
Massachusetts.  Munsell,  Albany,  1881. 

(c)  An  Account  of  the  Lineage  of  Gen. 
Moses  Cleveland  of  Canterbury ,  Conn.,  the» 
Founder  of  the  City  of  Cleveland ,  Ohio.  Also 
a  sketch  of  his  life.  By  H.  Rice.  W.  W. 
Williams,  Cleveland,  Ohio,  1885. 

(d)  The  New  Fngland  Ancestry  of 
Grover  Cleveland.  By  W.  K.  Watkins  and 

E.  Putnam.  The  Salem  Press,  1892.  Pri¬ 
vately  printed.  33  copies  made.  Contains 
twenty-five  pages,  the  first  fifteen  being  taken 
up  with  charts  by  Walter  K.  Watkins  and 
Eben  Putnam.  The  rest  is  given  up  to  notes 
presenting  items  of  particular  interest  in  con¬ 
nection  with  various  members  of  the  Cleve¬ 
land  family  and  collateral  branches. 

(e)  The  Genealogy  of  the  Cleveland  and 
Cleaveland  Families.  Compiled  by  Ed- 


406 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


mund  James  Cleveland  and  Horace  Gillette 
Cleveland.  Three  vols.  3000  pages.  The 
Case,  Lockwood  and  Brainard  Company, 
Hartford,  Conn.,  1899.  An  enormously  de¬ 
tailed  work,  covering  a  vast  range  of  genea¬ 
logical  records.  By  far  the  most  valuable 
Cleveland  genealogical  work. 

(4)  Magazine  Articles: 

(a)  “The  President’s  Policy.”  By  J.  B. 
Eustis,  Wm.  R.  Grace,  and  Theodore  Roose¬ 
velt.  North  American  Review ,  October, 
1 885,  pp.  374-396.  An  attempt  to  combine  in 
a  single  three-headed  article  a  defense  and  a 
denunciation.  The  article  by  Mr.  Roosevelt 
is  the  most  interesting  of  the  three,  by  virtue 
of  its  picturesque,  violent  language,  and  its 
frankly  partisan  criticisms. 

(b)  “Southern  View  of  the  Election  of 
Cleveland.”  By  A.  G.  Bradley.  Macmillan's 
Magazine ,  1885.  Vol.  51,  p.  372. 

(c)  “Possible  Presidents:  President 
Cleveland.”  By  D.  B.  Eaton,  North  Ameri¬ 
can  Review ,  1887.  Vol.  145,  p.  629,  et  seq. 

(d)  “Democracy  Photographed.  The 
Record  of  a  Bogus  Reformer.  President 
Cleveland,  a  Wanton  Pledge-breaker.”  New 
York  Tribune  Extra,  No.  100.  New  York, 
1888. 

(e)  “The  Political  Effect  of  fhe  Mes¬ 
sage.”  By  B.  Smith.  North  American  Re¬ 
view ,  1888.  Vol.  V.,  p.  146,  et  seq. 

(f)  “La  Lutte  pour  la  Presidence  aux 
Etats-Unis.”  By  A.  Moireau.  Rev.  d.  Deux 
Mondes ,  1889.  Vol.  91,  p.  642,  et  seq . 


SOURCES 


407 

(g)  “Regierung  des  Praesidenten  Cleve¬ 
land.”  Unser  Zeit,  1889.  Vol.  2,  p.  208, 
et  seq. 

(h)  “Defeat  of  President  Cleveland.” 
Contemporary  Review ,  1889.  Vol.  55,  p.  283, 
et  seq . 

(i)  “Cleveland  a  Popular  Leader.”  By 
Wilbur  Larremore.  The  Arena ,  January, 

1891.  Vol.  3,  pp.  147-156. 

(j)  “What  Mr.  Cleveland  Stands  For.” 
By  Charles  Francis  Adams.  Forum ,  July, 

1892.  Vol.  13,  pp.  662-670.  A  brilliant, 
characteristically  frank  defense  of  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land’s  record  on  the  tariff,  civil  service,  the 
currency,  and  the  pension  question.  It  is  also 
a  promise  that  the  Independents  will  support 
Mr.  Cleveland  in  1892. 

(k)  “Mr.  Cleveland  as  President.”  By 
Woodrow  Wilson.  Atlantic  Monthly ,  March, 
1897.  Vol.  79,  pp.  289-300. 

(l)  “Second  Administration  of  Grover 
Cleveland.”  By  Carl  Schurz.  McClure's 
Magazine,  May,  1897.  Vol.  9,  pp.  633-644. 
An  article  of  great  value  by  one  of  the  recog¬ 
nized  leaders  of  Civil  Service  Reform,  and  a 
Mugwump  of  great  influence  and  ability. 

(m)  “Character  Sketch  of  Grover  Cleve¬ 
land.”  By  William  Allen  White.  McClure's 
Magazine,  February,  1902;  Vol.  18,  pp.  322- 
330. 

(n)  “Grover  Cleveland.”  By  Lyman 
Abbott.  New  York  Genealogical  and  Biolog¬ 
ical  Record.  New  York,  1908.  Vol.  39,  pp. 
237-241. 


408 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


(o)  Tribute  to  the  Memory  of  Grover 

Cleveland,  June  26,  1908.  New  York  Cham¬ 
ber  of  Commerce,  1908. 

(p)  “Grover  Cleveland.”  By  Henry 

Loomis  Nelson.  North  American  Review , 

New  York,  1908.  Vol.  188,  pp.  161-187. 

(q)  “Grover  Cleveland,  a  Princeton 

Memory.”  By  Andrew  Fleming  West.  Cen¬ 
tury  Magazine ,  New  York,  1908.  Vol.  77, 

PP-  323-337- 

(r)  “Cleveland  as  a  Teacher  in  the  Insti¬ 
tution  for  the  Blind.”  By  Fanny  J.  Crosby. 
McGlure  s  Magazine f  March,  1909,  pp.  581- 
583.  A  series  of  recollections  prepared  for 
the  Democratic  Campaign  Committee,  and 
containing  little  of  interest  or  value. 

(s)  “Cleveland  as  a  Lawyer.”  By  Wilson 
S.  Bissell.  McClure's  Magazine ,  Vol.  32,  pp. 
583-585.  New  York,  1909. 

(t)  “Grover  Cleveland  Memorial  Meet¬ 
ings  in  Brooklyn  and  Manhattan,  1909.”  Ad¬ 
dresses  by  Dr.  St.  Clair  McKelway,  President 
William  H.  Taft,  Senator  Elihu  Root,  etc., 
Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle,  1909.  Eagle  Library 
No.  148. 

(u)  “Official  Characteristics  of  President 
Cleveland.”  By  Charles  R.  Lingley.  Political 
Science  Quarterly ,  Lancaster,  1918.  Vol. 

33,  pp-  255-265. 

(5)  Pamphlets: 

(a)  Address  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher  at 
the  Brooklyn  Rink,  October  22,  1884.  Circu¬ 
lar  No.  13  of  National  Committee  of  Repub- 


SOURCES  409 

licans  and  Independents,  New  York,  1884. 
8  pages. 

(b)  Cleveland  and  the  Irish ,  true  history 
of  the  great  Irish  Revolt  of  1884.  By  John 
Devoy.  Issued  by  the  Irish-American  Anti- 
Cleveland  and  Protective  League,  New  York, 
1888.  8  pages. 

(c)  Tell  the  Truth ,  an  anonymous  pam¬ 
phlet  dealing,  in  a  manner  most  unfair  to  Mr. 
Cleveland,  with  the  scandals  of  the  presiden¬ 
tial  campaign  of  1884. 

(d)  The  Democratic  Party  and  Civil 
Service  Reform.  By  the  Young  Men’s  Demo¬ 
cratic  Club  of  Brooklyn.  Issued  on  January 
26,  1885,  and  containing  a  collection  of  ex¬ 
tracts  bearing  upon  the  Civil  Service  Reform 
movement  and  Mr.  Cleveland’s  relation 
thereto.  16  pages. 

(e)  The  Inauguration  of  Grover  Cleve¬ 
land,  the  President-elect,  March  4,  1885.  A 
book  for  fifty  million  people.  By  Henry  J. 
Kintz.  W.  F.  Fell  &  Co.,  Philadelphia,  1885. 

(f)  Defense  of  Grover  Cleveland,  in  Re¬ 
gard  to  His  Treatment  of  the  United  States 
Attorneys  in  Pennsylvania  and  Missouri.  By 
Edward  M.  Shepard.  New  York,  1887. 
Privately  printed.  23  pages. 

(g)  The  Imaginary  Conversations  of 
(<His  Excellency”  and  Dan.  By  C.  W.  Taylor 
with  illustrations  by  F.  H.  Blair.  Cupples 
and  Hurd,  Boston,  1888.  A  burlesque  very 
popular  in  the  days  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s  second 
presidential  campaign. 

(h)  Souvenir  of  the  Reception  and  Din- 


410 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


ner  given  by  the  Young  Men’s  Democratic 
Club  of  the  City  of  New  York,  to  the  Honor¬ 
able  Grover  Cleveland,  New  York,  May  27, 
1889.  Contains  the  addresses  of  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land,  W.  C.  P.  Breckinridge,  David  B.  Hill, 
Governor  Hoadley  of  Ohio,  Frederic  R.  Cou- 
dert  and  Ashbel  P.  Fitch. 

(i)  Tammany  Hall  Souvenir  of  Inaugu¬ 

ration  of  Cleveland  and  Stevenson.  J.  W. 
McDonald  &  Co.,  New  York,  1893.  148 

pages. 

(j)  King  George .  Chronicles  of  His 

Reign  According  to  Simonides ,  the  Scribe  of 
the  Tribe  of  Lechay.  First  book.  Published 
by  the  author,  Allentown,  Pa.,  1894.  I2& 

pages.  Written  in  the  style  of  the  Scriptures. 

(k)  Souvenir  of  the  Annual  Dinner  of 
the  Reform  Club,  held  at  the  Waldorf  Hotel, 
New  York  City,  April  24,  1897.  Martin  B. 
Brown  Company,  New  York,  1897.  Contains 
Mr.  Cleveland’s  address  entitled  “Present 
Problems,”  and  addresses  by  John  G.  Car¬ 
lisle,  William  L.  Wilson,  Edward  M.  Shep¬ 
ard,  and  others,  all  bearing  more  or  less 
directly  upon  the  history  of  Mr.  Cleveland’s 
fight  for  a  sound  currency. 

(l)  Cleveland’ s  Last  Message:  Life  in¬ 
surance  and  its  relationship  to  our  people. 
Spectator  Publishing  Co.,  New  York,  1908. 

(m)  Good  Citizenship.  Henry  Altemus, 
Philadelphia,  1908. 

(n)  Tribute  to  Memory  of  Grover  Cleve¬ 
land,  June  26,  1908,  by  Chamber  of  Commerce 


SOURCES  41 X 

of  the  State  of  New  York.  New  York  Cham¬ 
ber  of  Commerce,  1908. 

(0)  Cleveland's  Last  Message ,  A  Literary 
Forgery .  By  Broughton  Brandenburg.  New 
York,  1908.  15  pages. 

(p)  Proceedings  of  the  Second  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  Association  of  Life  Insurance 
Presidents ,  including  an  account  of  the  Cleve¬ 
land  Memorial  Meeting.  Printed  by  the  As¬ 
sociation  of  Life  Insurance  Presidents,  New 
York,  1909. 

(q)  Grover  Cleveland  Memorial ,  the 
eighteenth  of  March,  in  the  year  one  thousand, 
nine  hundred  and  nine.  DeVinne  Press,  New 
York,  1910. 

(r)  Grover  Cleveland :  Address  delivered 
at  the  unveiling  of  the  memorial  tablet  at  the 
Buffalo  Historical  Society,  May  20,  1912.  By 
John  G.  Milburn.  Buffalo  Historical  So¬ 
ciety  Publications,  1913,  v.  17,  pp.  121-126. 

(s)  Proceedings  at  the  Passing  of  Title  to 
the  ((Old  Manse  ”  Grover  Cleveland' s  Birth¬ 
place,  Caldwell,  N.  J.  March  18,  1913. 
Grover  Cleveland  Memorial  Association, 

1913* 

(t)  Was  New  York's  Vote  Stolen ?•  By 
Francis  Lynde  Stetson  and  William  Gorham 
Rice.  Reprint  from  North  American  Re¬ 
view,  January,  1914.  A  critical  examination 
of  the  contest  over  the  election  of  1884. 

(u)  The  Surgical  Operation  on  President 
Cleveland  in  I 8q 3.  ByWm.  W.  Keen.  G.  W. 
Jacobs  &  Co.,  Philadelphia,  1917.  52  pages. 

(v)  Address  on  Grover  Cleveland, 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


March  18,  1919,  Cleveland  Memorial  Service 
in  New  York  City.  By  Leonard  Wood.  Pub¬ 
lished  by  the  Cleveland  Memorial  Associa¬ 
tion,  1919. 

(w)  Memorial  Exercises  of  the  Boston 
Bar  Association  before  the  Supreme  Judicial 
Court  in  Memory  of  Richard  Olney,  June  28, 
1919.  Geo.  H.  Ellis  &  Co.,  Boston,  1919.  A 
pamphlet  containing  many  items  of  interest 
with  reference  to  the  Chicago  Strike,  the 
Venezuelan  Controversy,  etc. 

III.  BOOKS  CONTAINING  IMPORTANT  INCIDENTAL  BIO¬ 
GRAPHICAL  MATERIAL  CONCERNING  GROVER  CLEVE¬ 
LAND 

(1 )  The  President  and  His  Cabinet ,  indicating  the 
progress  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  un¬ 
der  the  administration  of  Grover  Cleveland.  By 
Charles  B.  Norton.  Cupples  &  Hurd,’  Boston,  1888. 
249  pages. 

(2)  Biography  of  James  G .  Blaine .  By  Gail 
Hamilton.  Norwich,  1895. 

(3)  History  of  Presidential  Elections .  By  Ed¬ 
ward  Stanwood.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  4th 
ed.,  1896. 

(4)  The  First  Battle .  By  William  Jennings 
Bryan.  A  story  of  the  campaign  of  1896,  together 
with  a  collection  of  his  speeches  and  a  biographical 
sketch  by  his  wife.  W.  B.  Conkey  Co.,  1897.  629 
pages. 

(5)  A  History  of  the  American  People .  By 
Woodrow  Wilson.  Harper  &  Bros.,  New  York,  1902. 
Five  vols.  See  v.  5,  pp.  170-233. 

(6)  Our  Presidents  and  How  We  Make  Them. 


SOURCES  413 

By  A.  K.  McClure.  Harper  &  Bros.,  New  York, 
1902.  481  pages. 

(7)  American  Tariff  Controversies  in  the  Nine - 
teenth  Century.  By  Edward  Stanwood.  Houghton 
Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1903.  Two  vols. 

(8)  Autobiography  of  Seventy  Y ears.  By  George 
F.  Hoar.  Chas.  Scribner’s  Sons,  New  York,  1903. 
Two  vols.  “President  Cleveland’s  Judges,”  v.  2,  pp. 
172-181. 

(9)  The  Republican  Party .  1854-1904.  By  Fran¬ 
cis  Curtis.  G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons,  New  York,  1904. 
Two  vols.  “Convention  of  1884 — Nomination  of 
Blaine — Moral  Issue — Election  of  Cleveland,”  v.  2, 
pp.  116-162.  “Administration  of  Cleveland,”  v.  2,  pp. 
1 63-1 79.  “Conventions  of  1892,”  v.  2,  pp.  239-270. 
“Second  Administration  of  Cleveland,”  v.  2,  pp.  271- 

3°3- 

(10)  Autobiography  of  Andrew  D.  White.  The 
Century  Co.,  New  York,  1905.  Two  vols.  “Arthur, 
Cleveland,  and  Blaine,”  pp.  192-212. 

(11)  The  Democratic  Party  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  By  James  K.  McGuire.  1905.  Three  vols. 
Grover  Cleveland,  v.  2,  pp.  126-162. 

(12)  James  Gillespie  Blaine.  By  Edward  Stan¬ 
wood.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1905.  378 

pages. 

(13)  Recollections  of  Thirteen  Presidents.  By 
John  S.  Wise.  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  New  York, 
1906.  Grover  Cleveland,  pp.  171-194. 

(14)  A  Political  History  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  By  DeAlva  Stanwood  Alexander.  Henry 
Holt  &  Co.,  New  York,  1906-9.  Three  vols.  “Cleve¬ 
land’s  Enormous  Majority,”  v.  3,  pp.  483-499.  A 
fourth  volume  has  just  appeared  ( 1923) ,  which  covers 


4X4 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


Mr.  Cleveland’s  later  political  career  in  so  far  as  it 
touched  the  field  of  New  York  politics. 

(15)  Twenty  Years  of  the  Republic ,  1885-1905. 
By  Harry  T.  Peck.  Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  New  York, 
1907.  “The  Return  of  the  Democracy,”  pp.  1-48. 
“Two  Years  of  President  Cleveland,”  pp.  49-96. 
“President  Cleveland  Once  More,”  pp.  306-349.  In 
general,  the  best  history  of  the  Cleveland  period, 
journalistic  in  style,  but  accurate  in  detail. 

(16)  National  Problems — 1 88 $-l8()J .  By  Davis 
Rich  Dewey.  Harper  &  Bros.,  New  York,  1907.  The 
work  of  a  well-known  financial  historian,  and  espe¬ 
cially  valuable  upon  the  financial  questions  of  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  administrations. 

(17)  Speeches  and  Addresses ,  1884-1909.  By 
Henry  Cabot  Lodge.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston, 
1909.  462  pages.  Contains  important  incidental  com¬ 
ment  upon  Mr.  Cleveland’s  public  actions,  written  by 
a  leader  of  the  opposition  party. 

(18)  The  Autobiography  of  Thomas  Collier 
Platt.  Compiled  and  edited  by  Louis  J.  Lang.  B.  W. 
Dodge  &  Co.,  New  York,  1910.  A  frank  discussion  of 
American  politics  by  a  master  politician.  Of  par¬ 
ticular  interest  is  the  discussion  in  Chapter  XVI, 
“The  Gold  Plank  Controversy  and  How  I  Won  It.” 

(19)  Random  Recollections  of  an  Old  Political 
Reporter.  By  William  C.  Hudson.  Cupples  &  Leon, 
New  York,  1911.  Several  chapters  relate  to  Cleve¬ 
land’s  administrations  as  Governor  and  President. 
Contains  interesting  material  regarding  Mr.  Cleve¬ 
land’s  personal  characteristics,  and  is  written  in  a 
light,  journalistic  style. 

(20)  The  United  States  in  Our  Own  Time.  By  E. 
Benjamin  Andrews.  Chas.  Scribner’s  Sons,  New 


SOURCES 


415 

York,  1912.  A  rather  forbidding  volume,  written 
from  the  point  of  view  of  a  champion  of  Free  Silver, 
and  covering  the  period  from  Cleveland  to  Roosevelt. 

(21)  Speeches f  Correspondence  and  Political 
Papers  of  Carl  Schurz.  Selected  and  edited  by  Fred¬ 
eric  Bancroft.  G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons,  New  York,  1913. 
Data  relating  to  the  Mugwump  campaign  of  1884, 
Civil  Service  Reform,  etc.  Six  vols. 

(22)  Life  of  Thomas  B.  Reed .  By  Samuel  W. 
McCall,  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston,  1914.  Con¬ 
tains  an  account  of  Cleveland’s  administration  as 
viewed  by  the  leader  of  the  opposition. 

(23)  American  Diplomacy .  By  Carl  Russell 
Fish.  Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York,  1915.  Third 
edition  revised,  1919. 

(24)  Sixty  Years  of  American  Life.  By  Everett 
P.  Wheeler.  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1917. 

(25)  History  of  the  United  States  from  Hayes  to 
McKinley ,  1877-1896.  By  James  Ford  Rhodes.  The 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1919.  One  vol.  484 
pages.  The  eighth  volume  of  Dr.  Rhodes’  monu¬ 
mental  history  of  the  United  States  from  the  Com¬ 
promise  of  1850,  includes  the  entire  period  of  Mr. 
Cleveland’s  public  life,  and  is  invaluable  as  the  inter¬ 
pretation  of  an  historian  of  the  first  rank. 

(26)  The  Return  of  the  Democratic  Party  to 
Power  in  1884 .  By  Harrison  Cook  Thomas.  Colum¬ 
bia  University  Press,  New  York,  1919.  One  vol. 
225  pages. 

(27)  Life  of  Walter  Quintin  Gresham f  1832-1895. 
By  Matilda  Gresham.  Rand,  McNally  &  Co.,  Chi¬ 
cago,  1919.  Contains  many  letters  and  other  material 
bearing  upon  the  public  actions  of  Grover  Cleveland. 
Two  vols. 


416 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


(28)  Marcus  Alonzo  Hanna;  His  Life  and  Work. 
By  Herbert  Croly.  The  Macmillan  Co.,  New  York, 
1919.  Important  with  reference  to  the  gold  plank  of 
the  Republican  platform  of  1896.  495  pages. 

(29)  Theodore  Roosevelt  and  His  Time ,  Shown 
in  His  Own  Letters.  By  Joseph  Bucklin  Bishop. 
Charles  Scribner’s  Sons,  New  York,  1920.  Two  vols. 

(30)  Since  the  Civil  War.  By  Charles  Ramsdell 
Lingley.  The  Century  Co.,  New  York,  1920. 
A  volume  of  unusual  interest,  designed  as  a  college 
text.  Especially  valuable  in  its  treatment  of  financial 
questions,  and  questions  connected  with  the  trust 
problem. 

(31)  Recent  History  of  the  United  States.  By 
Frederic  L.  Paxson.  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  New 
York,  1921.  One  vol.  602  pages.  A  scholarly  sketch 
of  the  history  of  the  United  States  from  Hayes  to 
Harding,  written  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  liberal. 

(32)  From  McKinley  to  Harding ;  Personal  Rec¬ 
ollections  of  Our  Presidents .  By  H.  H.  Kohlsaat. 
Charles  Scribner’s  Sons,  New  York  and  London, 
1923.  Important  with  reference  to  the  gold  plank  of 
the  Republican  platform  of  1896. 


INDEX 


Abbett,  Leon,  I,  340 
Aberdeen,  Lord,  II,  174 
Adams,  Charles  Francis,  I,  200,  319 
Adams,  Edward  D.,  II,  97 
Adams,  Henry,  I,  2 
Adams,  John,  I,  168 
Alaskan  fisheries,  I,  240 
Alcred,  King  of  Northumbria,  I,  1 66 
Aldrich,  Senator,  I,  274 
Alger,  Russell  A.,  I,  296 
Allen,  John,  I,  34 
Allen,  Lewis,  I,  16 
Allison,  Senator,  I,  274 
Altgeld,  John  P.,  II,  148,  151-155,  156, 
157,  158-162. 

Alvensleben,  von,  I,  248,  249,  251 
Alvey,  Richard  H.,  II,  198 
American  Railway  Union,  II,  143,  144, 
149,  157,  169 

American  Tariff  Reform  League,  I,  300 
Ames,  Governor,  I,  311 
Ames,  Oakes,  I,  75 
Anderson,  E.  Ellery,  I,  319,  327 
Annual  Register,  II,  196 
Anthracite  Coal  Strike,  II,  303 
Apaches,  I,  229,  230 
Apgar,  Edgar  P.,  I,  40,  81 
Apia,  I,  244,  245,  247,  248,  252,  255, 
259,  260 

Appointments  and  removals — relations 
between  Executives  and  Senate,  I, 
168-183 

Arbuckle  Brothers,  I,  152 
Argus,  Albany,  I,  213 
“Army  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Christ,”  II,  142 

Army  of  West  Virginia,  I,  214 
Army  Register,  I,  203 
Arnold,  Benedict,  I,  21 1 
Arreas  and  Pensions  Act,  I,  190,  199 
Arthur,  Chester  A.,  I,  38,  48,  201,  221, 
222,  224,  269 ;  II,  2 
Articles  of  Confederation,  I,  167 
Assembly  Bill  No.  58,  I,  52 
Assembly  of  Wise  Men.  See  Wite- 
nagemot 

Association  Hall,  meeting  at,  I,  208 
Athenians,  I,  241 
Atlantic  Monthly,  II,  43 


Bache,  Benjamin,  II,  253 

Bacon,  Captain,  I,  150,  151,  153 

Bacon-Sterling  Case,  I,  149-154 

Balfour,  Hon.  A.  J.,  II,  200 

Bancroft,  George,  II,  1 

Barnum,  William  H.,  I,  98 

Bass,  Cleveland,  and  Bissell,  I,  22 

Bass,  Lyman  K.,  I,  19 

Bates,  G.  M.,  I,  260 

Battleship  Maine  wrecked,  II,  271 

Bayard,  Thomas  F.,  I,  80,  82,  84,  102, 

145,  172,  241,  246,  247,  248-249,  250, 
251,  296,  297,  302;  II,  2,  7,  38,  48, 
176,  177,  178,  179,  180,  187,  198,  199, 
202 

Bee,  Omaha,  II,  52,  77 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  I,  38,  150 
Belknap,  William  W.,  I,  74,  76 
Belmont,  August,  II,  21,  26 
Belmont,  August,  &  Co.,  II,  88 
Benedict,  Commodore,  I,  308,  355;  II, 
27,  29,  260,  261,  267,  303,  316,  322, 
323,  326,  365 

Benton,  M.  E.,  I,  159,  160,  162,  163, 
164 

Berlin,  Treaty  of,  I,  260,  262 
Berliner  Tageblatt,  I,  249,  252 
“Big  Six.”  See  Typographical  Union 
No.  6 

Bishop,  Joseph  Bucklin,  I,  54;  II,  302 
Bishop,  William,  I,  193 
Bismarck,  I,  204,  250,  258,  260,  299 
Bissell,  Wilson  S.,  I,  42,  98,  99,  113, 
i34,  136,  137,  149,  281,  293,  307,  315, 
323,  324,  33o;  II,  5 
Black,  Chauncey  F.,  I,  311 
Blackburn,  James,  I,  133 
“Black  Eagle,”  I,  226 
Blacklock  (American  Vice-Consul  at 
Samoa),  I,  256 

Blaine,  James  G.,  I,  39,  48,  75,  76,  77, 
79,  88,  89,  90,  91,  94,  95,  96,  98,  122, 

146,  156,  260,  272,  274,  280,  290,  291, 
292;  II,  2,  49,  50,  177 

Bland,  Richard  P.,  II,  35,  36,  79,  224 
Bland-Allison  Act,  II,  16-18,  22,  218 
Blatchford,  Samuel,  II,  130 
Blount,  James  H.,  II,  55,  56,  57,  58,  61 
Boies,  Horace,  I,  341 


INDEX 


418 

“Boss”  system,  I,  62,  78 
Bradley,  Sallie  Ann,  I,  194-197 
Bragg,  Edward  S.,  I,  81,  332 
Brandies,  Mr.,  I,  248,  249,  255,  256,  257, 
261 

Brewer,  David  J.,  II,  198 
Bnnkerhoff,  William,  I,  356 
Bnnski,  George,  1,  191 
British  Guiana,  II,  173,  177,  182,  198, 
202 

Britton,  Charles  P  ,  I,  129,  130 
Bryan,  William  Jennings,  I,  333;  II, 
33-37,  77-78,  92-93,  203,  220,  223, 
224,  227,  234,  236,  237,  238,  239,  276, 
282,  286,  295,  296,  297,  298 
Bryant,  Dr.  Joseph,  I,  140;  II,  27 
Bryce,  Mr.,  I,  255 
Buchanan,  James,  I,  117,  189;  II,  1 
Buffalo,  corruption  in  Board  of  Aider- 
men,  I,  24 

Burchard,  Dr.  Samuel,  I,  95 
Burnett,  John  D.,  I,  175,  183 
Burr,  Aaron,  I,  90 
Burt,  Henry,  I,  188 
Bushy  Head,  I,  226 
Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  I,  82,  89 

Cabinet,  Cleveland’s  first,  I,  102-107 
Cadwalader,  John  L.,  II,  131 
Caffery,  Senator,  II,  102 
Calhoun,  John  C  ,  I,  121-122 
Call,  Senator,  II,  250 
Campaign  of  1896,  II,  203-237 
Campbell,  James  E,  I,  341 
Campbell,  Timothy  J.,  I,  58,  63 
Canal  ring,  I,  155 
Cannon,  Senator,  II,  220 
Carlisle,  John  G.,  I,  80,  82,  273,  341 ;  II, 
4,  5,  6,  22,  24,  78,  89,  104,  181 
Carnegie,  Andrew,  I,  312;  II,  24,  112, 
121-126,  139,  220,  242 
Carter,  Charles  L.,  II,  52 
Carter,  James  C.,  II,  131 
Cary,  C.  S.,  I,  299,  326 
Cass,  Lewis,  II,  1 
Castle,  William  R.,  II,  52 
Catchings,  T.  C.,  II,  115-119 
Catiline,  I,  211 
“Cattle  kings,”  I,  223,  224 
Cederkrantz,  Conrad,  I,  261 
Chamberlain,  Joseph,  I,  294 
Chandler,  Senator,  II,  134 
Charles  I,  I,  182 
Chase,  Secretary,  I,  73 ;  II,  1 
Cherokees,  I,  220,  226 
Chickasaws,  I,  220,  238,  239 
China,  I,  242 
Choctaws,  I,  220,  238,  239 
Cicero,  I,  211 


Civic  reform,  I,  26 
Civil  Service  Bill,  I,  265 
Civil  Service  Commission,  first,  I,  122 
Civil  Service  Reform,  I,  64,  88,  no, 
122-165,  172,  205,  276,  277,  284,  313, 
354;  II,  11-12,  16. 

Civil  Service  Reform  Association,  I, 
123,  150 

Civil  Service  Reform  League,  National, 
I,  123,  124 

Civil  War,  I,  72,  73,  189,  192,  209,  265, 
269,  272 

Clay,  Henry,  I,  49,  90 
Clayton,  John  M.,  II,  1 
Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  II,  244 
Cleveland,  Aaron,  I,  3 
Cleveland,  Anna,  I,  4 
Cleveland,  L.  F.,  I,  92 
Cleveland,  Mary  Allen,  I,  4,  15 
Cleveland,  Moses,  I,  2,  3,  16 
Cleveland,  Richard  Cecil,  I,  4,  92 
Cleveland,  Richard  Falley,  I,  3,  4,  5 
Cleveland,  Stephen  Grover,  I,  indiffer¬ 
ence  to  personal  history,  I,  2;  lack  of 
interest  in  family  history,  I,  2 ;  Eng¬ 
lish  line  traced  back  to  Norman  Con¬ 
quest,  I,  2 ;  American  line  traced 
back  to  1635,  I,  2;  origin  of  name,  I, 
2;  variations  in  spelling  of  name,  I, 
2-3  ;  father’s  and  mother’s  early  mar¬ 
ried  life,  I,  4-5 ;  birth  of,  I,  5 ;  at 
Fayetteville,  I,  5-10,  13,  14;  child¬ 
hood,  1,  5-7;  religious  training,  I, 
6-7;  boyhood,  I,  8-16;  essay  written 
at  age  of  nine,  I,  9 ;  letter  received 
two  years  after  entering  White 
House,  I,  9-10;  at  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  I, 
10-13,  speech  made  on  visit  to 
old  home  at  Fayetteville,  N.  Y.,  I, 
io-ii;  his  first  job,  I,  13-14;  father’s 
death,  I,  15;  in  New  York  City,  I, 
15  ;  letter  to  benefactor,  I,  16 ;  arrived 
at  Buffalo,  I,  16;  studies  law,  I,  16- 
18;  choses  Democratic  party,  I,  18; 
admitted  to  the  New  York  bar,  I,  18 ; 
Assistant  District  Attorney,  Erie 
County,  N.  Y.,  I,  18-19;  war  record, 
I,  19,  96-97;  defeated  in  election  for 
district  attorney,  19;  elected  sheriff, 
I,  21;  in  the  shrievalty,  I,  21-22; 
declines  attorneyship  in  New  York 
Central  R.  R.,  I,  23  ;  nominated  for 
Mayor  of  Buffalo,  I,  25 ;  indorsed  by 
Independents,  I,  25 ;  letter  of  accept¬ 
ance,  I,  25;  elected,  I,  26;  in  the 
mayoralty,  26-36;  death  of  mother,  I, 
39;  letter  to  Edward  P.  Apgar,  I,  40- 
41 ;  letter  to  Wilson  S.  Bissell,  I,  42- 
43;  nominated  for  Governor,  I,  44; 


INDEX 


419 


letter  to  David  B.  Hill,  I,  45;  letter 
to  Rev.  William  N.  Cleveland,  I,  47- 
48 ;  elected  Governor,  I,  48 ;  in  the 
Governorship,  I,  48-71 ;  letter  to  John 
Kelly,  I,  57;  and  Tammany  Hall,  I, 
63;  message  of  January  1,  1884,  I, 
64-66;  and  the  Democratic  National 
Convention,  I,  76-84;  nominated  for 
President,  I,  83;  first  speech  of  cam¬ 
paign,  I,  85-86;  letter  to  vice-com¬ 
mandant  Koltes  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  I, 
93-94 ;  elected  President,  I,  97;  alone 
in  the  White  House,  I,  100-116; 
“Henceforth,  I  must  have  no  friends,” 
I,  100;  his  first  Cabinet,  I,  102-107; 
letter  to  Forty-eighth  Congress,  I, 
107-109;  letter  from  S.  J.  Tilden,  I, 
no;  takes  oath  of  office,  I,  no; 
facing  the  political  bread  line,  I, 
117-165;  letters  from  office  seekers, 
I,  118-120;  letter  to  George  William 
Curtis,  I,  124-126;  and  civil-service 
reform,  I,  122;  letter  to  the  press  on 
reappointment  of  Pearson  postmaster 
of  New  York,  I,  130-131;  letter  to 
Wilson  S.  Bissell,  I,  134-136;  letter 
to  Charles  W.  Goodyear,  I,  1 37-13 9 ; 
at  play,  I,  140-142;  letter  to  King 
Leopold  of  Belgium,  I,  144-145 ; 
letter  to  Joseph  Keppler,  I,  148; 
letter  to  Edward  M.  Shepard,  I,  156; 
letter  to  Alton  B.  Parker,  I,  160; 
executive  order  of  July  14,  1886,  I, 
1 57_1 59  i  Benton  and  Stone  case,  I, 
159-164;  letter  to  A.  H.  Garland,  I, 
159-162;  letters  from  Carl  Schurz,  I, 
163,  164,  183;  conflict  with  the  Sen¬ 
ate,  I,  172-183;  message  to  Forty- 
ninth  Congress,  I,  173 ;  message  of 
March  1,  1886,  I,  179,  182;  marriage, 
June  2,  1886,  I,  186;  letter  from  Joe 
James,  186;  letter  to  New  York 
Evening  Post,  I,  187;  and  the  vet¬ 
erans  of  the  Civil  War,  I,  189-217; 
letter  from  Horace  White,  I,  200; 
letter  to  John  W.  Frazier,  I,  204-205; 
and  the  return  of  captured  flags,  I, 
202-207 ;  letter  to  Secretary  Endicott, 
207 ;  “viper,”  “traitor,”  “unworthy 
to  breathe  the  air  of  heaven,” 
“skulker,”  “hater  of  Union  soldiers,” 
“oppressor  of  the  widow  and  father¬ 
less,”  I,  208;  “sneaked  like  a 
whipped  spaniel,”  I,  209;  resolutions 
of  Mitchell  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  I,  210-21 1 ; 
resolutions  of  Sam  Rice  Post,  G.  A. 
R.,  I,  211-214;  letter  from  a  veteran, 
216;  and  the  wards  of  the  nation,  the 
American  Indians,  I,  218-219;  letter 


from  Helen  Hunt  Jackson,  I,  222-223  ; 
and  the  “cattle  kings,”  I,  224-225; 
letter  to  General  Sheridan,  I,  228- 
229;  letter  to  Hoke  Smith,  I,  237-238; 
Bismarck  and  Samoa,  1,  240-263; 
and  foreign  affairs,  I,  240;  undeliv¬ 
ered  message  to  Congress,  I,  257- 
259;  address  before  school  in  St. 
Paul,  I,  267 ;  and  the  tariff,  I,  268- 
275,  289,  291,  294,  299,  301;  message 
of  December  6,  1887,  I,  271-272; 
forged  Albany  Times  letter,  I,  275- 
278;  letter  to  James  Shanahan,  I, 
281-282;  suggestions  for  platform, 
New  York  State  Convention,  1887, 

I,  283  ;  “the  beast  from  Buffalo,”  I, 
290;  nominated  for  second  term,  I, 
290;  letter  on  New  York  guberna¬ 
torial  nomination  to  William  R. 
Grace,  I,  292-293  ;  letter  to  Bissell,  I, 
293;  fisheries  dispute,  I,  294-296; 
Sackville-West  incident,  I,  296-297, 
302-303  ;  defeated  for  second  term,  I, 
297;  retires  to  New  York,  I,  302; 
resumes  practice  of  law,  308;  ad¬ 
dresses  Merchants  Association,  of 
Boston,  I,  3 1 1 ;  tribute  of  James 
Russell  Lowell,  I,  312;  letter  to  John 
Temple  Graves,  316-317;  speech  in 
Philadelphia  on  anniversary  of  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans,  I,  317-318; 
letter  to  E.  Ellery  Anderson  on  free 
coinage  of  silver,  I,  319-320;  address 
at  Cooper  Union,  I,  322;  first  child 
born,  I,  323  ;  letter  to  Bissell,  I,  323- 
324;  address  at  Ann  Arbor,  328-329; 
letter  to  Bissell,  I,  330,  331;  letter  to 
Edward  S.  Bragg,  I,  332,  333;  letter 
to  Justice  Lamar,  I,  334-336;  letter  to 
Bissell,  I,  337-338;  nominated  third 
time,  341 ;  letter  to  Bissell,  I,  343- 
344;  campaign  of  1892,  I,  343  ;  notifi¬ 
cation  of  nomination  at  Madison 
Square  Garden,  I,  345-346;  letter  to 
Bissell,  I,  347-348;  letter  to  Bissell,  I, 
349;  letter  to  Bissell,  I,  350-351;  din¬ 
ner  with  Tammany  men,  I,  352-353; 
speech  in  Jersey  City,  I,  355-356; 
elected  President,  second  time,  I,  356; 
“greatest  victory  in  history,”  I,  357; 
only  President  re-elected  after  de¬ 
feat,  II,  1 ;  letter  to  L.  Clarke  Davis, 

II,  3;  letter  to  Walter  Q.  Gresham, 
II,  4-5;  second  Cabinet,  II,  1-6;  and 
office-seekers,  II,  6-8 ;  takes  second 
oath  as  President,  II,  9 ;  second  in¬ 
augural  address,  II,  9-10;  executive 
order,  May  8,  1893,  II,  15;  and  cur¬ 
rency  reform,  II,  16;  and  Bland- 


INDEX 


420 

Allison  Act,  16-18;  financial  situa¬ 
tion,  II,  16-25,  34-38,  75;  letter  from 
August  Belmont,  II,  21  ;  declaration 
of  April  2,  1893,  II,  25;  operation  on 
mouth,  II,  27-30;  special  message  to 
Congress,  August  8,  1893,  II,  32-33; 
and  Bryan,  II,  33-37;  letter  to  Am¬ 
bassador  Bayard,  II,  39-41 ;  and 
Hawaii,  II,  45-73  ;  and  the  four  bond 
issues,  II,  74-106;  vetoes  the  Seign¬ 
orage  Bill,  II,  81 ;  annual  message 
December  3,  1894,  II,  84;  letter  to 
Ambassador  Bayard,  II,  89-92;  an¬ 
nual  message,  December  21,  1895,  II, 
95;  letter  from  J.  P.  Morgan,  II,  99- 
101 ;  letter  to  Senator  Caffery,  II,  102; 
letter  from  Don  Dickinson,  II,  113- 
114;  letter  from  Senator  Palmer,  II, 
114-115;  letter  to  Hon.  T.  C.  Catch- 
ings,  II,  1 1 5-1 19;  letter  from  Wayne 
MacVeagh,  II,  119-121;  letter  from 
Andrew  Carnegie,  II,  121-126;  letter 
to  Attorney-General  Harmon,  II, 
128-130;  Senator  Hill  and  nomina¬ 
tions  to  Supreme  Court,  130-137; 
letter  to  Joseph  H.  Choate,  II,  133; 
letter  from  William  B.  Hornblower, 
II,  135-136;  letter  to  Senator  Hill, 
136-137;  and  the  Pullman  strike  of 
1894,  II,  138-172;  letter  to  Andrew 
Carnegie,  II,  139-140;  special  mes¬ 
sage  April  22,  1886,  II,  140;  letter 
from  Governor  Altgeld,  II,  151-155.; 
reply  to  Altgeld,  II,  156;  telegram 
from  Altgeld,  II,  158-162;  dispatch 
to  Altgeld,  II,  163;  proclamation  of 
July  8,  1894,  II,  164-165;  second 
proclamation,  II,  166;  telegram  from 
Debs  and  associates,  II,  167-169;  and 
Venezuelan  affair,  II,  173-202;  let¬ 
ters  to  Olney,  II,  180-181,  183;  mes¬ 
sage  to  Congress,  December  17,  1895, 
II,  188;  letter  from  Bayard,  II,  190- 
191;  reply  to  Bayard,  II,  192-196; 
letter  to  Chicago  business  men,  II, 
204-206 ;  letter  to  Governor  Stone, 
II,  206-207  ;  letter  from  Don  M.  Dick¬ 
inson,  II,  208-210;  letter  to  Demo¬ 
cratic  newspaper  editors,  II,  210-211 ; 
letters  to  Dickinson,  II,  213-217,  221- 
223 ;  letter  to  Colonel  Lamont,  II, 
225-226 ;  letter  to  Hoke  Smith,  II, 
227-229;  replies  of  Smith,  230-231; 
telegram  from  D.  C.  Griffin,  II,  232; 
reply  to  Griffin,  II,  232;  letter  to 
Colonel  Lamont,  II,  233-234;  speech 
before  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
234-235;  letters  to  R.  W.  Gilder,  II, 
239-242;  and  the  Cuban  revolution, 


II,  245-252,  271-276;  last  annual 
message,  December  7,  1896,  II,  248- 
249;  letter  to  F.  Coudert,  II,  251 ;  let¬ 
ter  to  A.  B.  Farquhar,  II,  252;  de¬ 
nunciations  by  extreme  press,  II,  253  ; 
life  at  Princeton,  II,  256-270,  285- 
286;  letter  to  Charles  S.  Fairchild, 
II,  262-263 ;  speech  before  Reform 
Club,  II,  263 ;  receives  degree  at 
Princeton,  II,  265;  letter  to  Gilder, 
265-266;  letter  to  Olney,  II,  266; 
letter  to  President  Patton,  266-267; 
appointed  Stafford  Little  Lecturer  on 
Public  Affairs,  n,  269;  elected  trus¬ 
tee  Princeton  University,  II,  270;  let¬ 
ter  to  W.  R.  Hearst,  II,  272;  Com¬ 
mencement  address  at  Lawrenceville, 
II,  274-275 ;  letter  to  Edward  M. 
Shepard,  II,  277;  letter  to  Judson 
Harmon,  II,  277-278;  letter  to  Olney, 
II,  278-279;  Olney’s  reply,  II,  279- 
281;  letter  to  Edward  M.  Shepard, 
II,  282-283 ;  letter  to  Harmon,  II, 
287-290;  letter  to  A.  S.  Abeel  Co.,  II, 
291-292;  letter  to  Bissell,  II,  292-294; 
letter  to  John  S.  Green,  II,  295  ;  letter 
to  Don  M.  Dickinson,  II,  296-297; 
false  report  of  interview  with,  II, 
298-299;  letter  from  Theodore 
Roosevelt,  II,  299-300;  trepidation 
regarding  Roosevelt’s  administration, 
II,  302-303  ;  and  the  anthracite  coal 
strike  of  1902,  II,  303-314;  letter  to 
Roosevelt,  305-306;  views  on  labor 
and  capital,  306-310;  letter  to  Car¬ 
negie,  II,  3 1 1-3 12;  letters  from 
Roosevelt,  II,  313-3 14 ;  letter  to 
Joseph  Garretson,  II,  315;  and  third 
term,  II,  315-322,  329-332;  greeting 
at  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition, 
April  30,  1903,  II,  3 1 7-321 ;  letter  to 
Commodore  Benedict,  II,  323  ;  birth 
of  second  son,  II,  324;  letter  to  John 
G.  Hibben,  II,  324;  announcement  to 
neighbors,  II,  325-326;  letter  to  St. 
Clair  McKelway,  II,  327;  death  of 
daughter  Ruth,  II,  327-329;  letter 
from  Colonel  Lamont,  II,  329-330; 
letters  to  Lamont,  II,  333-334;  letter 
to  Hornblower,  II,  335-336;  letter  to 
Olney,  II,  336;  letter  from  Alton  B. 
Parker,  II,  337;  letter  to  Olney,  II, 
338;  letter  to  James  Smith,  Jr.,  II, 
338-339;  Smith’s  reply,  II,  339-340; 
telegram  from  A.  B.  Parker,  II,  342; 
letter  to  Parker,  II,  342-343  ;  letter  to 
Farquhar,  II,  346-347;  disappoint¬ 
ment  at  Roosevelt’s  election,  II,  346; 
letter  to  Gilder,  II,  348-349;  and  the 


INDEX 


421 


reorganization  of  the  Equitable  Life 
Assurance  Association,  II,  350-364; 
letter  from  Thomas  F.  Ryan,  II,  351- 
353;  reply  to  Ryan,  II,  353.-355 ;  ap¬ 
pointed  trustee  of  the  Equitable,  II, 
355;  letter  fromPaul Morton,  11,358- 
359  5  reply  to  Morton,  II,  359-360; 
head  of  Presidents’  Association  of 
Life  Insurance  Companies,  II,  360; 
letter  to  Morton,  II,  361-362;  letter 
from  Benedict,  II,  365-368;  letter 
from  Mark  Twain,  II,  368-369;  letter 
from  Woodrow  Wilson,  II,  369-370; 
letter  to  Gilder,  II,  370;  letter  to 
Carnegie,  II,  371 ;  letter  to  Wilton 
Merle  Smith,  II,  372;  letter  to  Wil¬ 
liam  F.  Vilas,  II,  372-373  ;  letter  to 
George  Allen  Bennett,  aged  nine,  II, 
373"374>  letter  to  Hornblower,  II, 
375-376;  address  before  Union 
League  Club,  Chicago,  II,  375-378; 
letter  from  Mrs.  Cleveland,  II,  378- 
379;  tribute  by  the  New  York  Sun, 
II,  379-380;  his  seventieth  birthday, 
II,  378-381 ;  letter  to  Gilder,  380-381 ; 
letter  to  E.  Prentiss  Bailey,  II,  383- 
384;  death,  II,  385;  memorial  tower, 

II,  385 

Cleveland,  William,  I,  3 
Cleveland,  William  Neal,  I,  4,  13,  47 
Cleveland  and  Bissell,  I,  24 
“Cleveland  and  the  Irish,”  I,  95 
Clews,  Henry,  II,  22 
Cochran,  Bourke,  I,  154-340 
Colfax,  Schuyler,  I,  76 
Columbian  Exposition,  II,  141 
Commercial  Gazette,  I,  146,  272 
Confederate  flags,  I,  202-207 
Congo,  the,  I,  144-145 
“Congress,  Berlin,”  I,  260 
Conkling,  Roscoe,  I,  96 
Constitution,  Atlanta,  II,  253,  300 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1787,  I, 
167,  170 

“Contemptible  politician,”  I,  208 
Contract,  obligation  of,  I,  52 
Cooper-Hewitt,  I,  98 
Cooper  LTnion,  New  York,  Democratic 
mass  meeting  at,  I,  322 
Cornell,  Alonzo  B.,  I,  26,  34,  35,  36,  38 
Coudert,  Frederick  R.,  I,  292,  327;  II, 
131.  134.  136,  250-251 
County  Democracy,  I,  60 
Courier-Journal,  I,  265 
Credit  Mobilier,  I,  73 
Creeks,  I,  220,  221,  237 
“Crime  of  1873,”  II,  37 
Croker,  Richard,  I,  292,  326,  327,  348, 
352,  353 


Cromwell,  I,  37 

Crook,  General,  I,  229,  230 

Crow  Creek,  I,  221 

“Crown  of  thorns  and  cross  of  gold,” 
II,  224 

Cuba,  I,  242;  II,  245-252,  271-275.  See 
also  Spanish-American  War. 
Currency  bill,  II,  284 
Currency  reform,  II,  16 
Curtis,  George  William,  I,  76,  90,  123, 
124,  147 

Curtis,  William  Elroy,  II,  80,  212,  285 
Cushing,  Caleb,  II,  1 
Cuyler,  Theodore  L.,  I,  147 

Daily  Evening  Telegram,  Philadelphia, 
I,  320 

Daniel,  Hon.  John  W.,  II,  223,  224 
Davenport,  Charles,  I,  155 
Davis,  L.  Clarke,  I,  310;  II,  3,  23,  42, 
112,217,257 

Dawes  Commission,  I,  236-238 
Dawes,  Henry  L.,  I,  231,  232,  236 
Debs,  Eugene  V.,  II,  144-145,  146,  149, 
157,  158,  166,  169,  170,  171 
Democrat,  Wilmington,  O.,  I,  195 
Democratic  Conventions,  National,  I, 
68,  69,  70,  71,  77-84,  102,  (1884)  283, 
(1888)  289,  (1892)  326,  328,  330,  338- 
342,  352;  II,  (1896)  203,  217,  223, 
(1900)  286,  (1904)  331,  338,  340-344 
Democratic  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  I, 

311 

Dependent  pension  bill,  I,  199,  200 
Depew,  Chauncey  M.,  I,  23,  1 88,  292 
Deutsch  Bank,  II,  97 
Devoy,  John,  I,  95 

Dewey,  Admiral  George,  I,  242 ;  II,  72 
Dickens,  Charles,  I,  268 
Dickinson,  Don  M.,  II,  113,  208,  212, 
213,  268,  296-297,  301 
Dingley  Bill,  II,  262 
“Dishonor,  a  century  of,”  I,  222 
Dispatch,  I,  113 
Doge,  George  F.,  I,  93 
Dole,  President,  II,  51,  67,  68 
Dorsheimer,  William,  I,  20-21,  69 
Downing  Street,  I,  240 
Drum,  Adjutant-General,  I,  202,  203, 
204,  205 

DuBois,  Senator,  II,  220 
Duskin,  George  M.,  I,  175,  183 

Eagle,  Brooklyn,  I,  298 
Eardwulf,  Bishop,  I,  166 
Eaton,  Commissioner,  I,  154 
Eaton  letter,  I,  157 
Edmunds,  Senator,  I,  175,  176 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  I„  2 


422 


INDEX 


Elections,  (1800)  I,  90;  (1824.)  I,  90; 
(1876)  I,  90,  97;  (1892)  II,  1; 

(1896)  II,  236;  (1900)  II,  345 
Elkins,  Senator,  II,  101 
Emory,  Frederic,  II,  43 
Endicott,  William  C.,  I,  103,  202,  203, 
206,  303 

England,  I,  240-257,  262,  272,  302- 
303 

Enrollment  Act,  I,  93 
“Entangling  alliances,”  I,  262 
Environment,  heredity  and,  I,  1-23 
Equitable  Life  Assurance  Association, 
reorganization  of,  II,  350 
Erdmann,  Dr.  John  F.,  II,  28 
Evans,  Admiral,  II,  255,  257 
Evarts,  William  M.,  I,  168,  243;  II,  1, 
J77. 

Evening  Bulletin,  San  Francisco,  II, 
67-68 

Evening  News,  Baltimore,  II,  237 
Evening  Post,  New  York,  I,  150,  187, 
272 

Ewing,  Thomas,  II,  1 

Executive,  independence  of,  I,  166-188 

Express,  Buffalo,  I,  37 

Fairbanks,  Charles  W.,  II,  218,  219 
Fairchild,  Charles  S.,  I,  327,  328 
Fairchild,  General,  I,  68,  208,  209,  216 
Farmers’  Alliance,  I,  314 
Farnsworth,  General,  I,  84 
Farquhar,  A.  B.,  II,  249,  252;  II,  294 
Faulkner,  Senator,  I,  291 
First  Congregational  Church  at  Wind¬ 
ham,  Connecticut,  I,  3 
First  National  Bank  of  Buffalo,  failure 
of,  I,  51 

Fish,  Hamilton,  II,  1,  177 
Fisheries  disputes,  I,  294-296 
Fisk,  Pliny,  II,  98 
Five-cent-fare  bill,  I,  51,  321 
Five  Civilized  Tribes,  I,  220,  235,  236, 
237 

Flanagan  murder  case,  I,  33 
Flower,  Roswell,  P.,  I,  43,  44,  82,  98, 
103,  35i 

Folger,  Charles  J.,  I,  38,  39 
Folsom,  Frances,  I,  184-186 
Folsom,  Oscar,  I,  184 
Foraker,  Governor,  I,  206;  II,  221 
Forest  Assize  of  1184,  I,  1 66 
Foster,  John  W.,  II,  52 
Four  bond  issues,  II,  74 
“Four  lean  months,”  II,  238-255 
Francis,  David  R.,  II,  80 
Francis,  Mayor  of  St.  Louis,  I,  217 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  II,  151 
Frazier,  John  W.,  I,  204 


Free  Silver  Democrats,  II,  208,  217 
Frelinghuysen,  Secretary  of  State,  II, 
177 

Fritze,  Captain,  I,  256 
“From  Greenland’s  Icy  Mountains,”  I, 
6 

Fuller,  Chief-Justice,  I,  105 

Garfield,  James  A.,  I,  117,  123,  171, 
201,  305 ;  II,  2 

Garland,  Augustus  H.,  I,  105 
Gassman,  Mayor,  I,  221 
Gazette,  Elmira,  I,  188 
General  Managers’  Association,  II, 
143,  i49 

George  III,  II,  151 

German  Emperor,  I,  244-245,  253,  255 
Germany,  I,  240-262 
Geronimo,  I,  230 
Gettysburg,  I,  204 
Gibson,  Dr.  Kasson  C.,  II,  29 
Gilder,  Richard  Watson,  I,  54,  201, 
321,  354,  357;  II,  6,  8,  30,  42,  239-242, 
252,  284 

Gilman,  Daniel  C.,  II,  198 
Gladstone,  William  E.,  I,  147;  197 
Glaman,  Charles,  I,  193 
Gold  standard,  I,  106,  107 
Goodyear,  Charles  W.,  I,  91,  136,  137, 
143,  H9 

Gorman,  Senator,  I,  98,  290,  291,  326, 
337,  34G  II,  113 
Gospel  of  Wealth,  II,  139 
Gould,  Jay,  I,  38,  97 
Grace,  William  R.,  I,  282,  289,  290, 
292,  327 

Grady,  Thomas  F.,  I,  56,  57,  58,  59,  60, 
61,  62,  63,  77,  81,  129 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  I,  199, 
201,  203,  208,  209,  210,  211,  212,  213, 
214,  215,  216,  265 

“Grandiloquent  swell,  a.”  See  Conk- 
ling,  Roscoe 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  I,  2,  122,  123,  171, 
201 

Granville,  Lord,  II,  175,  176 
Graves,  John  Temple,  I,  316 
Gray,  George,  II,  5 

Great  Council  of  the  Realm,  Norman, 
I,  166 

“Greatest  victory  in  history,”  I,  357 
Green,  John  S.,  II,  295 
Greenebaum  (American  Consul  at 
Samoa),  I,  245,  246 
Gresham,  Otto,  II,  219 
Gresham,  Walter  Q.,  I,  292;  II,  3-5, 
59,  60,  61,  80,  147,  178,  179,  1 80,  218, 
220 

Grosscup,  P.  S.,  II,  150 


INDEX 


“Grover  and  John  Bull,”  II,  38 
Guiteau,  I,  38 
Guthrie,  Mr.,  II,  1 

Half-Breeds,  I,  59 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  I,  m;  II,  94 
Hamilton  College,  I,  11 
Hand,  Clifford  A.,  II,  131 
Hanna,  Mark,  II,  220 
Harmon,  John,  I,  188 
Harmon,  Judson,  II,  128-130,  225,  267, 
277,  287 

Harrison,  Benjamin,  I,  2,  234,  235,  259, 
262,  292,  298,  299,  346,  354;  II,  12,  20 
Harrison,  William  Henry,  II,  1,  2 
Harrity,  William  F.,  I,  356 
Hart,  Alphonso,  I,  196 
Harter,  Congressman,  I,  346 
Harvey  Fisk  &  Sons,  II,  98 
Hatch,  Edward  W.,  I,  35 
Hatch,  General,  I,  221 
“Hater  of  Union  soldiers,”  I,  208 
Hawaii,  I,  240,  241;  II,  45-73,  177 ,  182 
Hay,  John,  I,  242 

Hayes,  Rutherford  B.,  I,  90,  123,  171, 
201 

Hendricks,  Thomas  A.,  I,  80,  82,  83, 
84,  89 

Henry  II,  I,  166 
Henry  III,  I,  166 
Henry  V,  king  of  England,  I,  2 
Henry,  Patrick,  I,  2,  49 
Herald,  Chicago,  II,  58 
Herald,  Newport,  R.  I.,  II,  61 
Herald,  New  York,  I,  59,  78,  306;  II, 
57,  92,  190,  284,  304 
Herbert,  Hilary  A.,  II,  6 
Herbert,  Michael  H.,  I,  302;  II,  181 
Heredity  and  environment,  I,  1-23 
Herrick,  D.  Cady,  I,  70,  292,  293,  337 
Heusner,  Commodore,  I,  252 
Hill,  David  B.,  I,  45,  149,  155,  157-158, 
279,  281,  282,  289,  290,  294,  298,  304- 

307,  310,  314,  315,  320,  321,  322,  324, 

325,  326,  327,  328,  329,  336,  337,  340, 

34U  342,  344,  348;  II,  83,  126,  131, 

132,  223,  224,  225 
Hill-Murphy  machine,  I,  336 
Hoadley,  Governor,  I,  82 
Hoar,  Senator,  I,  74,  183 
Hohenzollerns,  I,  250,  262 
Holy  Writ,  I,  77 

Home  Missionary  Society,  American, 
I,  10 

Hornblower,  William  B.,  I,  300;  II, 
130-132,  135-136 
House  Bill  No.  155,  I,  197 
How,  James,  I,  152 
Hoyt,  M.  E.,  I,  15 


423 

Hudson,  William  C.,  I,  26,  68,  76,  77, 
78,  86,  87,  88 

“I  am  a  Democrat,”  I,  330.  See  also 
Hill,  David  B. 

Ifu,  I,  253 

“Inbred  Descendants  of  Charlemagne,” 
etc.,  I,  2  n ; 

Indian  Emancipation  Act,  I,  231 
Indian  lands,  opening  of,  I,  221-227 
Indian,  North  American,  I,  218-239 
Indian  Territory,  I,  220,  223,  228,  235, 
239 

Ingalls,  Senator,  I,  288 
Injunction  against  railway  strikers,  II, 
146-150,  171-172 
Inter-Ocean,  Chicago,  II,  13 
Interstate  Commerce  bill,  I,  265 
Irish,  John  P.,  II,  290 
“Iron  Chancellor,”  I,  260.  See  also 
Bismarck 

Irving  Hall  Democrats,  I,  57 

Jackson,  Andrew,  I,  78,  90,  121,  169, 
170,  277,  325 

Jackson,  Helen  Hunt,  I,  222 
Jacobs,  John  C.,  I,  62 
James,  D.  Willis,  I,  98 
James,  Joe,  I,  186 
Janeway,  Dr.  E.  G.,  II,  28 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  I,  2,  45,  90,  hi,  168, 
339,  340 

Jenckes,  T.  A.,  I,  126 
Johnson,  Andrew,  I,  180,  181;  II,  1 
Johnson,  Reverdy,  II,  1 
Johnston,  Gabriel,  I,  167 
Johnston,  George  D.,  II,  12 
Jones,  Senator,  II,  113 
Jordan,  David  Starr,  I,  2 
Journal,  Atlanta,  II,  227 
Journal,  Chicago,  I,  272 

Kalakaua,  King,  II,  49 
Kamehameha  III,  II,  46 
Kane,  Captain,  I,  259 
Kasson,  J.  A.,  I,  260 
Keegan,  Vicar-General,  I,  152 
Keen,  Dr.  W.  W.,  II,  27 
Kelly,  John,  I,  43,  44,  45,  55,  56,  58,  59, 
60,  61,  62,  63,  70,  77,  79,  82,  89,  95, 
129,  130,  290,  321 
Kempff,  Commander,  I,  255 
Keppler,  Joseph,  I,  148 
Kernan,  John  D.,  II,  170 
Kidd,  M.  H.,  I,  236 
Kiernan,  John  J.,  I,  62 
Kimberley,  Lord,  II,  177,  179 
Kimberley,  Rear-Admiral,  I,  254,  257, 
259 


INDEX 


424 

King  John,  the  wicked,  I,  166 
Kip,  William  F.,  I,  95 
Koltes  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  97-98 

Lacedaemonians,  I,  241 
Lamar,  Q.  C.,  I,  104,  105,  338 
Lamberton,  Captain,  II,  255 
Lamont,  Daniel,  I,  55,  76,  84,  85,  86, 
89.  9<>i  97>  IIO>  IT3>  1  T4>  128,  129,  134, 
140,  188,  216,  275;  II,  5,  6,  181,  218, 
225,  233,  253,  257,  267 
Lanning,  Cleveland,  and  Folsom,  I,  19 
Lawton,  Henry  W.,  I,  230 
Leader,  Pittsburgh,  II,  268 
Leary,  R.  P.,  I,  256 
Lee,  Charles  E.,  I,  269 
Lee,  Gen.  Fitzhugh,  II,  271 
Lee,  Robert  E.,  I,  2 
Leopold  of  Belgium,  King,  I,  144 
Liliuokalani,  Queen,  II,  49-50,  54-55, 
61,  66 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  I,  49,  73,  102,  111, 
117,  118,  147,  211,  278;  II,  1 
Locke,  Judge,  I,  34 
Lockwood,  Daniel,  I,  80 
Lodge,  Henry  Cabot,  II,  102 
Lodi,  bridge  of,  I,  33,  36 
“Lost  Cause,”  I,  206 
Louis  XIV,  I,  117;  II,  186 
Lowell,  James  Russell,  I,  311,  312;  II, 
43 

Lyman,  Charles,  II,  12 

Mack,  Frank  W.,  I,  69 
Mackin,  James,  I,  62 
Mac  Veagh,  Wayne,  II,  119 
“Made  in  Germany,”  I,  261 
Madison  Square  Garden,  I,  345 
Malietoa,  I,  244,  245,  246,  248,  251,  252, 
253,  254,  255,  260,  261 
Manhattan  Railway  Company,  I,  52 
“Manifest  destiny,”  II,  45-73 
Manning,  Daniel,  I,  40,  42,  43,  44,  45, 
70,  71,  76,  78,  79,  83,  98,  103,  105; 
II,  16 

Manning,  John  B.,  I,  42 
Manton,  Marble,  I,  107 
Marcy,  William  L.,  II,  1,  46 
Marsden,  Joseph,  II,  52 
Massachusetts  Tariff  Reform  Associa¬ 
tion,  I,  300 

Mataafa,  I,  254,  257,  258,  259,  261 
Maynard,  Isaac  H.,  II,  131 
McClellan,  General,  I,  73 
McClure,  A.  K.,  II,  298 
McDonald,  Joseph  E.,  I,  80,  82,  83,  84 
McKelway,  St.  Clair,  I,  102,  106,  298, 
326-327 

McKenon,  Archibald  S.,  I,  236 


McKinley  bill,  II,  107,  109,  115 
McKinley,  William,  I,  242,  273;  II,  19, 
71,  217,  220,  231,  234,  236,  251,  253, 
261,  273,  276,  284,  296,  297,  300 
McLaughlin,  “Boss,”  I,  149 
McPherson,  Senator,  I,  355 
McVicar,  John,  I,  14 
Meade,  General,  I,  73 
Mexican  War,  I,  201 
“Miantinoma,”  I,  226 
Milburn,  John  G.,  I,  22;  II,  88 
Milchrist,  Thomas  E.,  II,  150 
Miles,  General,  I,  230;  II,  150,  151, 
162 

Miller,  Warner,  I,  298 
Mills  bill,  I,  273,  274,  290 
Mills,  Roger  Q.,  I,  273 
Mitchell,  John,  II,  303,  304,  305,  313 
Mitchell  Post  No.  45,  G.  A.  R.,  I,  210- 
211 

Mohawk  Conference,  I,  224,  227,  231 
Monroe  Doctrine,  II,  75,  177,  178,  182, 
186,  199,  200 
Monroe,  R.  G.,  I,  327 
Moore,  John  Bassett,  I,  263;  183-186 
Morgan,  J.  Pierpont,  I,  2;  II,  85-89,  96- 
101 

Morgan,  J.  P.,  &  Co.,  II,  88,  96 
Morgan,  J.  S.,  &  Co.,  II,  88 
Morgan,  Senator,  II,  132 
Morning  Herald,  Sydney,  I,  249 
Morning  News,  Savannah,  II,  58 
Morning  Post,  London,  I,  273 
Morrison,  William  R.,  I,  341 
Morton,  Julius  Sterling,  II,  6,  77 
Morton,  Levi  P.,  II,  83 
Murphy,  Charles,  I,  280,  289,  324,  325, 
326,  327,  328,  336,  343,  349,  350,  352; 
II,  83 

Murphy,  Col.  M.  C.,  I,  58,  61 
Mugwump  campaign  of  1884,  I,  68-99 
“Mugwumps,”  I,  71,  79,  88,  90,  92,  121, 
126,  150,  163,  336,  350;  II,  14 
Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  II, 

359 

Napoleon,  I,  33 
Nation,  the,  I,  208,  272 
National  City  Bank,  II,  97 
National  Democratic  party,  II,  231-234 
Neal,  Ann,  I,  3 
Nelson,  Henry  C.,  I,  61 
News,  Galveston,  I,  264 
New  York  Institute  for  the  Blind, 
I,  15 

New  York  Life  Insurance  Company,  II, 
358 

Noble,  John  W.,  I,  235 
Nordhoff,  Charles,  II,  57,  58 


INDEX 


425 


North  American  Review,  I,  88 
North  Missourian,  I,  162 

O’Brien,  John  W.,  I,  153 
Oklahoma,  I,  234 

Olney,  Richard  B.,  II,  5,  59,  60,  72,  73, 
89,  146,  163,  180,  182,  186,  188,  190, 
198,  201,  242,  244,  246,  247,  261,  268, 
278 

“Oppressor  of  the  widows  and  father¬ 
less,”  I,  208 

O’Reilly,  Dr.  R.  M.,  II,  27 
Ottendorfer,  Oswald,  I,  94 

Pago-Pago,  I,  242,  244,  262 
Palmer,  John,  II,  233,  234 
Palmer,  Senator,  I,  326,  337;  II,  114- 

115 

Parker,  Alton  B.,  I,  155 
Parker,  George  F.,  I,  92,  106,  152 
Parliament,  British,  I,  166,  182 
Parsons,  John  E.,  II,  131 
Pattison,  Robert  E.,  I,  341 
Patton,  President,  II,  266,  267 
Pauncefote,  Sir  Julian,  II,  179,  186, 
242 

Pauper  Pension  bill,  I,  200 
Payne,  Colony,  I,  221 
Payne,  Henry  B.,  I,  104 
Pearson,  Mr.,  I,  128-131 
Peckham,  Wheeler  H.,  II,  132-133,  136, 
137 

Pendleton  Act,  I,  123 
Pension  Bureau,  I,  104,  193,  201 
Pensions,  I,  189-201,  350 
Pettigrew,  Senator,  II,  220 
Phelps,  J.  E.,  I,  302,  303 
Phelps,  William  Walter,  I,  260 
Philippine  Islands,  I,  242 
Pickett’s  Division,  I,  204 
Pierce,  Franklin,  II,  I,  46 
Pilsach,  Baron  Senfft  von,  I,  261 
Plasson,  H.,  II,  250 
Platt,  Thomas  C.,  II,  221 
Polk,  James  K.,  II,  1 
Populists,  I,  354 
Post,  Washington,  II,  163 
Postal  Rule  No.  1,  II,  12 
Presidency,  throwing  away  the,  I,  264- 
301 

Presidential  election  of  1876,  I,  25 
Presidents’  Association  of  Life  Insur¬ 
ance  Companies,  II,  360 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  I,  3 
Proclamation  of  July  8,  1894,  against 
Railway  strikers,  II,  164,  165 
“Public  office  is  a  public  trust,”  I,  88 
“Public  officials  are  the  trustees  of  the 
people,”  I,  25 


Public  Opinion,  I,  265 
Pullman  Palace  Car  Company,  II,  143, 
171 

Quay,  Senator,  II,  128 
Quincy,  Josiah,  I,  312 

Randall,  Mr.,  I,  82,  83,  84,  273,  291 
Random  Recollections  of  an  Old  Po¬ 
litical  Reporter,  I,  68 
Rebellion,  war  of,  I,  211 
“Rebel  Yell,”  I,  212 
Record,  Chicago,  II,  80,  285 
Redmond,  John,  II,  197 
Reed,  Thomas  B.,  I,  273,  274 
Rees,  W.  L.,  I,  253 
Reform  Governor,  the,  I,  37-71 
Reid,  Whitelaw,  I,  354 
Republican,  Springfield,  I,  188 
Republican  conventions,  National  I,  74- 
76,  90-96,  292 ;  II,  221 
Revolution,  American,  I,  167 
Revolution  of  1688,  I,  167 
“Revolution  of  1800,”  I,  169 
Richardson,  William  A.,  I,  76 
Robinson,  Edmund  Randolph,  II,  131 
Rockefeller,  John  D.,  I,  2 
Rocky  Mountain  News ,  II,  38 
Rogers,  Bowen,  and  Rogers,  I,  16,  18 
Rome,  Church  of,  I,  77,  95 
Roosevelt,  Theodore,  I,  2,  53,  59,  65,  88, 
hi,  123,  181,  217,  242;  II,  12,  13, 
299.  3°°>  301-312 
“Roosevelt  luck,”  II,  301 
Root,  Elihu,  I,  246;  II,  131 
Rothschild,  N.  M.,  &  Sons,  II,  88,  94 
“Rum,  Romanism,  and  Rebellion,”  I, 
95 

Russell,  William  E.,  I,  339,  341 ;  II,  224 

Sackville-West,  Sir  Lionel,  I,  240,  296, 
297,  302-303 

Salisbury,  Lord,  I,  297,  303 ;  II,  176, 
183,  186,  187,  188,  200,  201,  202 
Samoa,  I,  240-263,  295;  II,  45,  53,  177, 
182 

Sam  Rice  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  I,  211 
Sanborn,  John  D.,  I,  76 
“Scarlet  woman,”  I,  77 
Schiff,  Jacob  H.,  II,  37 
Schomburgk,  Sir  Robert,  II,  173,  174 
Schouler,  James,  I,  178 
Schrechlichkeit,  I,  256 
Schurz,  Carl,  I,  76,  88,  90,  127,  128,  132, 
155, .163,  i79,  268 ;  II,  1,  12,  24,  74,  80 
Scientific  Monthly,  I,  2 
Scott,  William  L.,  I,  98 
Secession,  Mississippi  Ordnance  of,  I, 
104 

Seignorage  bill,  II,  79-82 


INDEX 


426 


Seminoles,  I,  220,  234,  236,  239 
Severance,  Mr.,  II,  46 
Sewall  (American  Consul  at  Samoa), 
I,  255 

Seward,  W.  H.,  II,  1 

Shanahan,  James,  I,  281 

Sheehan,  John  C.,  I,  25,  231,  343,  348, 

349.  350-  35i*  352,  353  ;  II,  83 
Shepard,  Edward  M.,  I,  150,  152,  153 
Shepard,  Henry  M.,  II,  147 
Sheridan,  General,  I,  73,  223,  224,  228 
Sherman,  General,  I,  73,  206 
Sherman,  John,  I,  292;  II,  1,  44,  243, 

244 

Sherman  law,  II,  20,  22,  23,  25,  28,  31, 
35.  37.  42.  75,  76,  95,  107,  109,  171 
Sigiraed,  King,  I,  166 
Silver,  free  coinage  of,  I,  315,  316,  324, 
.329,  330,  332,  342,  343;  II,  16-27 
Sioux,  I,  235 

Sir  John  Franklin  Expedition,  I,  111 
“Skulker,”  I,  208 

Slocum,  Gen.  Henry  W.,  I,  43,  44 
Smalley,  P.  J.,  I,  290 
Smith,  Hoke,  I,  237;  II,  5,  227 
Smith,  Dr.  Wilton  Merle,  I,  355;  II,  8 
“Snap  convention,”  I,  326,  327,  328, 
329,  330,  337,  342 

“Snivil  Service  Reform  Act,”  I,  154 
Sound-money  standard,  I,  346,  354 
Southwest  Sentinel,  I,  229 
Spanish-American  War,  I,  242.  See 
also  Cuba 

Spinney,  George  F.,  I,  278,  280 
Spoils  system,  I,  170,  176;  II,  15 
Springer  bill,  II,  141 
Stalwarts,  I,  59 
Standard,  London,  II,  243 
Standard  Oil,  I,  104 
Stanton,  Secretary,  I,  73 
“Stars  and  Bars,”  I,  213 
“Stars  and  Stripes,”  I,  213,  253 
Steinberger,  A.  B.,  I,  242,  243 
Sterling,  George  H.,  I,  149,  150,  151, 
152,  153 

Stetson,  Francis  Lynde,  I,  86,  126,  337; 

n,  96 

Stetson,  William  L.,  II,  204 
Stevens,  John  S.,  II,  49,  55,  56,  57,  58, 
59 

Stevenson,  Adlai,  I,  341 
Stevenson,  Robert  Louis,  I,  259,  261 
Stewart,  John  A.,  II,  97 
Stewart,  Senator,  II,  105 
Stickney,  Albert,  II,  131 
Stillman,  James,  II,  97 
Stone,  Cuthbert,  I,  192-193 
Stone,  William  A.,  I,  159,  160,  161,  162, 
163,  164 


Straus,  Isadore,  II,  181 
Strong,  William  L.,  II,  83 
Sumner,  Charles,  I,  203 
Sun,  Baltimore,  I,  113;  II,  290 
Sun,  New  York,  I,  97,  164,  186,  265, 
296,  307 

Sunderland,  Rev.  Dr.,  I,  186 
Supreme  Court,  U.  S.,  I,  218,  226 

Tamasese,  I,  245,  253,  254,  255,  256, 
257,  260 

Tammany  Hall,  I,  43,  44,  45,  55,  56,  57, 
58,  59)  63,  70,  77,  78,  79,  81,  82,  83,  88, 
89,  129,  130,  155,  265,  278,  290,  321, 
326,  330,  340,  344,  347,  348,  349,  351, 
352,  354;  II,  224 

Tariff,  I,  268-275,  290-291,  294,  299- 
301,  341,  342,  347,  356;  II,  n,  19,  75 
Taylor,  Zachary,  II,  1 
“Tecumseh,”  I,  226 
Teller,  Senator,  II,  220 
Tenure  of  Office  Act,  I,  170,  171,  172, 
176,  180 

Thurber,  Henry  T.,  II,  77 
Thurman,  Allen  G.,  I,  80,  82,  84,  266 
Thurston,  J.  B.,  I,  248 
Thurston,  Lorin  A.,  II,  52,  58 
Tibbitts,  F.  G.,  I,  14 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  I,  25,  43,  79,  81,  82, 
97,  103,  105,  277;  II,  2 
Times,  Albany,  I,  275 
Times,  Chicago,  II,  156 
Times,  Kansas  City,  II,  253 
Times,  London,  I,  251 ;  II,  243,  299 
Times,  New  York,  I,  150,  297;  II,  57, 
299,315. 

Times,  Philadelphia,  I,  209;  II,  297 
Tonga  Islands,  I,  252 
Torrance,  C.  C.,  I,  18 
Tracy,  Benjamin  F.,  I,  337 
“Traitor,”  I,  208 
Tree,  Lambert,  II,  7 
Tribune,  Chicago,  I,  140 
Tribune,  New  York,  I,  96,  97,  174,  273, 
297;  II,  58,  83,  243 
Tuttle,  General,  I,  210 
Tutuila,  I,  242,  262 
Twain,  Mark,  I,  229,  230;  II,  13-14 
Tweed  Ring,  I,  103 
Tyler,  President,  II,  1 
Typographical  Union  No.  6,  I,  96 

Union  flags,  I,  202,  207 
Union  Veterans’  Legion,  I,  215 
Union  White  Lead  Manufacturing 
Company,  I,  152 

United  Mine  Workers  of  America,  II, 

303 

United  States  Trust  Company,  II,  84, 
98 


INDEX 


427 


Unprecedented  restoration,  an,  I,  324- 
357 

“Unworthy  to  breathe  the  air  of 
heaven,”  I,  208 
Urban,  George,  I,  41 

Van  Buren,  Martin,  I,  78,  277 
Vanderpoel,  Major  Isaac  K.,  I,  19 
Van  Etten,  Mary  A.,  I,  194 
Van  Sinderen,  Howard,  II,  82 
Venezuela,  I,  240,  241,  257;  II,  65,  96, 
173-202,  243 

Vermandois,  Isabel  de,  I,  2 
Vest,  Senator,  I,  175;  II,  113,  224 
Veto  Mayor,  the,  I,  24-36 
Vilas,  William  F.,  I,  102 
“Viper,”  I,  209 
Vorhees,  Senator,  I,  326,  337 

Waite,  Chief  Justice,  I,  no 
Wales,  Prince  of,  II,  197 
Walker,  Edwin,  II,  146 
Walker,  Robert  J.,  II,  1 
Wallenstein,  Mr.,  II,  4 
Wall  Street,  I,  163;  II,  34,  36,  96 
Washburn,  Elihu,  II,  1 
Washington,  George,  I,  2,  hi,  168,  211, 
218,  261,  277,  278,  328 
Watterson,  Henry,  I,  106 
Webster,  Daniel,  I,  346;  II,  46 
Weed.  Thurlow,  I,  315 
“We  love  him  for  the  enemies  he  has 
made,”  I,  82,  83,  332 
West,  Dean,  II,  259,  267,  287 
West,  William  H.,  I,  75,  76 
Weyler,  Valeriano,  II,  247 
Wheeler,  Everett  P.,  II,  83 
White,  Andrew,  I,  53,  90;  II,  198 


White,  Edward  Douglas,  II,  134 
White,  Horace,  I,  200 
White,  Senator,  II,  130,  223 
“White-plumed  knight,”  I,  75.  See  also 
Blaine,  James  G. 

Whisky  Ring,  I,  73 

Whitney,  William  C.,  I,  98,  103,  104, 
216,  255,  289,  290,  297,  327,  336,  337, 
341,  342,  343,  347,  348,  349,  350,  351, 
352,  354;  II,  4,  224 
Wilder,  William  C.,  II,  52 
Williams,  Jesse  Lynch,  II,  259 
Willis,  Albert  S.,  II,  60,  61,  62,  63,  66 
Wilmot  proviso,  I,  347 
Wilson  bill,  II,  108-114,  127,  128,  134 
Wilson-Gorman  tariff,  II,  107-137 
Wilson,  James,  I,  170 
Wilson,  William  L.,  II,  109 
Wilson,  Woodrow,  II,  43-44 
Winnebagos,  I,  221 
Wintenagemot,  Anglo-Saxon,  I,  166 
“With  the  advice  and  consent,”  I,  166 
Woman’s  National  Indian  Association, 
I,  246 

Wood,  Dr.  Charles,  II,  270 
Wood,  Leonard,  I,  230;  II,  225 
Woodworth,  Alvah,  I,  8 
World,  New  York,  I,  58,  59,  61,  84,  95, 
150,  156,  216,  265;  II,  89,  98-99,  101, 
102,  104,  197 

World’s  Fair.  See  Columbian  Expo¬ 
sition 

Worthington,  Nicholas  E.,  II,  170 
Wright,  Carroll  D.,  II,  170 

Yale  College,  I,  3 
Yeomans,  E.  B.,  I,  151 
York,  Duke  of,  II,  197 


THE  END 


1 


3 


Date  Due 

< 

^  i  t  a* 

f> 

